The Last Unicorn: Steelbook Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

Movie
Anybody who knows my review history knows that I have a weakness for the 80s. It was a time where movies thrived, and we had some of the best examples of cinematic history come out of the era. It was the time that horror slashers thrived, Stallone and Arnold dominated the action landscape, and classic hand drawn animation had some great films released. However, I story of have a special place in my heart for 1982’s The Last Unicorn. Not only was it released in my birth year (only a few months after to be precise), but it was taken from a classic Peter Beagle book of the same name, and not only was produced IN America, but was undergone with the help of Japanese Animation studios and animation drawn by Topcraft and ITC Films (Topcraft being most famous for that old animated The Lord of the Rings film sets). It’s a bit of classic nostalgia that starred a VERY young cast of what would become (or already was) all star actors like Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, and even the venerable Christopher Lee. But above all of that, it’s a sweet fantasy tale of old, taking elements of classic Grimm fairy tales, and infusing it with modern (for the time) hand drawn animation that has created a tale that over 42 years later, STILL manages to captivate audiences.

Part musical, part 80s animated adventure, The Last Unicorn revolves around a female Unicorn (voiced by Mia Farrow) who sets out on a quest to find out if she actually IS the last one of her kind. You see, Unicorns are immortal by birth, and while they are susceptible to capture or being killed by human kind, they never really DIE. So after learning that she may be the last of her kind, sets out on a harrowing adventure to find out the truth.

However, upon leaving her magical forest, the Unicorn (her only name in the film’s credit is “the Unicorn”) finds out that there are more than a few problems along the way. Captured by the evil witch Mommy Fortuna (Angela Lansbury) she is forced to undergo the humiliation of captivity. However, thanks to the help of a young warlock named Schmendrick (Alan Arkin), she and the kindhearted wizard try to find out just what happened to her kind. Turns out that a magical red bull, who is known to hunt her kind, has captured the Unicorns one by one, turning them prisoner at the hands of the malevolent and greedy King Haggard (Christopher Lee). In order to protect her from becoming the final trophy in Haggards mystical collection, Schmendrick turns the Unicorn into a beautiful female in order to disguise her true past. There she meets the handsome Prince Lir (Jeff Bridges), who is the polar opposite of his father. Now it’s a race against time for the prince, the Unicorn AND the King, as they each try and gain the upper hand before the red Bull finishes off the entire race of Unicorns once and for all.

The Last Unicorn is truly one of a kind. While the animated Lord of the Rings films were not exactly Topcraft’s finest works, The Last Unicorn is truly a gem. It takes classic fairy tale scenarios and infuses it with a very “modern” 1980s charm. The hand drawn animation is absolutely lovely to behold, and Beagle’s story works well as both an allegory, as well as a straight forward fantasy film. Edited by Tomoko Kida (Only Yesterday), The Last Unicorn is a fully fleshed out and incredibly nuanced fairy tale for the time period. Not only that, it infuses stringed instruments, melodic pop songs, and a score mostly lorded over by the 80s rock band “America”. Everyone involved is having a blast, although I do feel that Christopher Lee really didn’t feel as dynamic and rich as he does in his live action films. COULD be that he was phoning it in, or it could have simply been the way the flick was directed. But whatever the reason, he feels a bit more tamped down and less dynamic as I’ve seen him movoer his career.




Rating:

Rated G for General Audiences




4K Video: Video:

Like MOST of Shout! Studios 4K releases, The Last Unicorn sports a newer 4K scan of the original negative, resulting in a pretty solid upgrade over the Blu-ray. There’s some MINOR print debris on there, as well as a few speckles, otherwise this is a really clean and vibrant looking remaster. Colors are deep and rich, and the HDR/Dolby Vision application is quite stunning. The warm neon shades of the film really pop off the screen, and black levels are deep an inky. But one thing that REALLY stood out was the film grain. There was no scrubbing, no overt DNR, no digital manipulation (at least obviously, to get really nerdy there almost always is SOME digital tweaking done, but this looks pretty stinking accurate to the 35mm print I saw a few years back) and a it looks GORGEOUS. Nice heavy film grain over hand drawn animated panels in all of its glory. Except for those few speckles and print debris, this is a near perfect looking transfer.







Audio:

If you’re aware of the past releases on Blu-ray and DVD, but The Last Unicorn featured some censored and cropped audio elements in said previous releases. Issues that have bugged fans of the film for literally YEARS, and luckily problems that Shout! Studios decided to correct (for both the 4K UHD and the included Blu-ray). This release sports the full and uncut audio mix in both 5.1 DTS-HD MA, as well as a 2.0 DTS-HD MA for night listening. End result is a top notch track that features a robust and exciting surround presentation for all of the music. Vocals are located up front as expected, and ambient action throughout the movies liven things up quite a bit. HOWEVER, I have to be honest. While this is a very fair and accurate representation of the film elements, the sound design is a bit pedestrian when compared against big blockbusters and other high budget films of the era. It’s a great mix, with everything done right, but of course some innate issues (such as a limited sound stage, and not a whole lot of bass) make it so I can’t rate it as high as I’d like (through no fault of its own).







Extras:

• NEW Profile of Writer Peter S. Beagle
• True Magic (Redux): The Story of The Last Unicorn
• Q&A with Peter S. Beagle
• Animated Storyboards
• Original Theatrical Trailer














I know I’m going to get in trouble from my wife here, but I think that The Last Unicorn is a great flick and have to rate it a 4.5/5 film (she would turn her nose up at my rating and tell me in no uncertain terms that this is a 6/5 rated film, and show me her list of signed and autographed copies of the book, Blu-ray, DVD and picture she took with Peter Beagle himself as proof of that.) It’s got a wonderful mix of raw and non “traditional” animation styles for the day, and somehow manages to still captivated people over 42 years later. Shout Studios release that I was given is a walmart exclusive (which can be ordered directly from Shout! Studios and of course Walmart), but they also released a standard edition of the 4K combo set as well (same disc, just different packaging) which I will link to at the end of this review. That being said, this is a fantastic release, with a new master for the 4K UHD disc, and a slight slight bump up in quality of the Blu-ray over the old Lionsgate release. Great Watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin, Christopher Lee, Keenan Wynn
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Written by: Jeff Nichols
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Shout Studios
Rated: G
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 20th 2024