Film

The Last Unicorn

Name: The Last Unicorn
Genre: Fantasy, Animation, Family, Adventure
Released: 1982
Cast: Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Tammy Grimes, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Lee

An early-80s animated fairy tale from Rankin/Bass, made with the Japanese studio that would become Ghibli, adapting Peter Beagle's own novel with real melancholy under the whimsy. It's slower and stranger than the cartoons around it — talking cats, a doomed magician, an ache about vanishing wonder and mortality. Beautiful and occasionally unsettling, for kids who don't mind being a little scared, and adults who remember being scared by it.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love animated fables that treat wonder and melancholy as equal partners, with a gentle, storybook pace and songs that linger longer than you expect.

Skip it if you want brisk plotting or modern animation polish; its hand-drawn look is soft and dated, and it moves at the unhurried pace of an old folk tale.

What it asks of you: Ninety-three minutes of patience, with long quiet stretches of travel and talk, and a mood that drifts between whimsy and sadness rather than snapping between jokes and action.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Princess Bride1987

Shares the same fairy-tale sincerity and dry wit — a quest through a lovingly absurd fantasy world populated with heroes who feel unmistakably human despite the giants and swordsmen.

But Broader comedy and romance, no talking animals or unicorns, and far less melancholy than what you just watched.

The Dark Crystal1982

Made the same year, with the same eerie fairy-tale dread — gorgeous puppetry standing in for animation, in a world that feels genuinely ancient and strange.

But Even slower pacing and thinner dialogue; it leans on spectacle and atmosphere rather than character.

Labyrinth1986

Jim Henson's own fantasy quest, with a wandering heroine, dream logic, and songs — playful where Unicorn goes somber, but recognisably the same creature.

But Campier and more musical, and Bowie's presence tilts it toward kitsch rather than myth.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Last Unicorn

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Seventh Seal1957

Both are allegorical journeys about mortality and the search for meaning before annihilation — the unicorn learning her fate rhymes with the knight's chess game against Death, just filtered through entirely different genres and eras.

Bergman's stark black-and-white parable set the template for the myth-quest-toward-death that fantasy has softened ever since — this is the unblinking original.

But Subtitled, glacially paced by comparison, and offers none of the comfort of songs or talking cats.

The NeverEnding Story1984

Another early-80s fantasy about a fading magical world, aimed at kids but genuinely moving for adults who remember being wrecked by it.

But Clunkier effects, and more concerned with a human boy's grief than the unicorn's own strange, solitary quest.

Legend1985

Literal unicorns, a young Tom Cruise, and gothic set design in a fight between light and dark with the same fairy-tale grandeur and dread.

But Thin characters, more concerned with visuals than emotional depth.

Willow1988

A patchwork crew of unlikely heroes on a fantasy adventure that swings between comic and sincere, in the Lucas/Howard mode.

But Broader and more action-driven, missing the melancholic undertow that makes Unicorn linger afterward.

Stardust2007

A modern fairy tale with wit, romance, and real wonder, plus a witch villain who'd get along fine with Mommy Fortuna.

But Brighter and more comedic, ending in triumph rather than the ambiguity Unicorn leaves you with.

Watership Down1978

British animation unafraid to be genuinely frightening and sad, proof that a cartoon can carry real grief and mortality.

But No fantasy-quest structure to speak of, animal-only cast, and bleaker with almost no humor to soften it.

The Secret of NIMH1982

Same year, same willingness to let beautifully drawn animals face real danger and mortality, with a similarly haunted atmosphere.

But Smaller in scale, more thriller than myth, and lacking the unicorn's cosmic sadness.

Over the Garden Wall2014

The same wandering-through-a-decaying-fairyland structure and autumnal melancholy, told in ten short animated episodes instead of ninety minutes — proof the mood survives a completely different format.

A gorgeous, genuinely strange animated miniseries about two lost brothers wandering a dying fantasy forest, funny and sad in almost exactly the ratio Unicorn nails.

But Looks aimed at a younger audience on the surface, and it's episodic rather than one sweeping story — easy to underestimate at first glance.

Annihilation2018

Swap the fairy tale for science fiction and you get the same question asked with dread instead of whimsy: what does it mean to be the last of something in a world being quietly erased.

A shimmering, unsettling sci-fi horror about transformation and extinction that turns the unicorn's central dread — being the last uncorrupted thing left — into something genuinely frightening.

But Cold, oblique, and often disturbing where Unicorn stays gentle; offers no warmth and little resolution.