According to this
site, they are remaking the classic animated film, The Last Unicorn to be released sometime in 2004.
I don’t know about most of you, but I think it’s about danged time. I’ve heard rumors that they are going to re-release the original on DVD soon (perhaps Christmas 03 or Spring 04??). I am HUGE fan of this movie. I own the movie itself on video (which I pirated off cable a few years ago) as well as a CD copy of the soundtrack (unavailable in the US) which my stepbrother found at a used CD shop in Deusaldorf (sp?), Germany a few years ago when he was living there.
The original is so beautiful and so touching, I can’t wait to see what they do with the remake.
I agree that it WAS a beautiful treatment of Mr. Beagle’s novel, and although my memory of the novel itself is somewhat hazy, I have the impression that it was reasonably faithful to the source material. kaylasmom and I both found it very moving, and it is quite an achievement for an animated feature to evoke such a strong emotional response from a blind woman (well, this blind woman, anyway).
All that said, I can’t see any particular reason for revisiting the book with another animated version.
I hear Angela Lansbury will be back as the witch who runs the carnival, Mia Farrow (the voice of the unicorn in the original) will be Molly Grue, and underweight Irish dreamboat Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is supposed to be Schmendrick the Magnificent.
kaylasdad: The animated screenplay was quite faithful to the novel, which is not surprising since they were both written by Peter S. Beagle.
I loved the animated movie, but I always felt it succeeded in spite of the Rankin/Bass animation, not because of it. (Even though R/B’s quirky, idiosyncatic designs matched the quirky, idiosyncratic source material quite well.) It could work quite well live-action, as it’s not really effect-laden despite the fantasy elements.
I doubt the producers of the new movie will be inviting America back to provide the soundtrack
You know, I’m bothered when someone refers to a new movie version of The Last Unicorn as a “remake.” It’s as though they thought the first movie version was an original screenplay and any later movie version would have to be based on nothing but the first movie version. The Last Unicorn was a great novel, and in so far as the movie worked, it was because it was true to the novel. Have you read the book, ChocolateJesus? If not, why not?
The Last Unicorn is my favorite book of all time. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it since 1968. I saw the animated version in the theatre when it first came out, and I thought it wasn’t too bad. I did like the way they did the Red Bull though.
I can definitely see Angela Lansbury as Mommy Fortuna (“Mommy Fortuna’s Midnight Carnival – Creatures of night, brought to light.”) Hopefully, Mia Farrow isn’t too old to play Molly Grue. I know Molly’s not in her first youth. I can kinda see that. I don’t know the actor they want to play Schmendrick. I just hope he has green eyes.
BTW, I found out a while back that “Schmendrick” is a Yiddish word meaning “a fool” or “a jerk.” And Cully (as in Captain Cully) means “A person easily deceived, tricked, or imposed on; a mean dupe; a gull.”
I’ll be interested to see how the movie comes out.
I don’t think so either, though I find the America soundtrack haunting and beautiful.
Yes, I have read the book, but it was a long, long time ago after I first got out of HS. I loved the book but so far have been unable to find another copy of it (I had borrowed a library’s copy). Drats.
From what I understand, from reading the website, it is going to be live action with computer-generated critters (like the Unicorn herself) magically dropped into the scenes (kind of like Draco in Dragonheart).
Somehow, I just cannot see Mia Farrow as Molly Grue. Perhaps it’s just me, but I just can’t picture it in my mind’s eye. You’re right, Molly is not young, but she’s not exactly old and decrepit either (which is how I picture Mia these days). According to the book, she appears to be middle aged, maybe 35ish or 40. I also cannot picture sweet Angela Lansbury doing a wicked, evil, haggard ugly old thing like Mommy Fortuna.
Boy, Hollywood would remake one of deMille’s shits. I saw The Last Unicorn again a few months ago, and, IMO, it doen’s need to be remade. The first version was cool.
What parts made everyone cry? I remember crying as a little girl when I saw her (horses and their kind have that effect on me.) When I next saw it at eighteen I cried again when Molly said, “How dare you come to me now, when I am this.” I had lost a lot of innocence by then and I just sat and bawled.
Now I have the book and I cry at the ending. I don’t want to spoil it, it’s a small thing that they left out of the movie. What a beautiful, wonderful story.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christopher Lee! I’m going to -have- to see this.
I always like the treatment Mr. Beagle gave the animated feature of his novel, though I wonder if he’s gritting his teeth over this. I remember reading in the preface to a collection of his work some time back that he never was very fond of the story and found it frustrating that that was the one thing of his that people seemed to actually have read.
Molly Grue was the one I could always empathize with; I wanted to smack Amalthea half of the time. The line “It would be the last unicorn in the world that came to Molly Grue” always makes my throat tighten.
