Reviews

I caught this on TV a few days ago, and as a long time magic fan, had to watch. Unfortunately, I found it painfully dated and uninteresting. Though apparently this "plot" was applied to a successful stage show Mr. Henning had done as well, it was exceedingly annoying and tiresome. And it was a musical, something that rarely works well, and certainly didn't here. And magic acts just don't work in film format.

What is spectacular and interesting in person (or arguably, live TV) feels like just another movie effect when placed in a film, which is unfortunate, because really the only reason to WATCH this is all the signature tricks performed in it. It takes all the mystery out of it.

It's sad that this is the only example of Mr. Henning's work available, because it sucks a lot of the life out of it. Doug's personality does shine, but I cannot imagine his bare-faced wonder and colourfulness would interest modern audiences. Even wanting to like and enjoy this movie, I just couldn't watch most of it.

The wonderful thing about a book is that you can sit down and linger over all your favorite parts of it. When I was not too much younger, I'd re-read my favorite scenes of children's books I loved over and over, savouring them. Here, it's all rushed. Sure, it's Harry Potter's greatest hits in complelation format, but I felt stunned, rushed and at the same time bored during the film. I wasn't awed. I wasn't thrilled. Except for a few brief moments, I generally sat there keeping up to pace and wondering how they'd do the scary scenes. (Those, and the Quiddich match, were wonderful and real movie savers) It's a nice little film, and perhaps if I was 14 or so I'd want to see it again, which is of course the point. But not now.

If you're planning on seeing the live action Lord of the Rings, this should be mandatory viewing, primarily because it is quite good at explaining all that back story the new movie crams into a 2 minute section of prologue.

Plus, it's beautifully animated and delightfully told. If I remember correctly, it's done by the same people who did "The Last Unicorn". It's really a fabulous little movie, if you're expecting the children's story the Hobbit was originally written to be.

After you've had your fill of Rudolf and Frosty, you should watch this movie. It's terrible. It's horrible. It's awful. It's badly acted, badly written, and really makes you wonder who thought this would be a good idea. But I can honestly say I watch it every Christmas, as the totally stupid, goofy atmosphere makes it the perfect fun holiday movie to watch with friends too old to get into the stop motion children's Christmas classics.

This is the type of horror film I love to see. I have been a longtime fan of Expressionist style film, and this film and it's monster were truly respectful to the artform. I am no exagerating to say that it did indeed have me clutching my seat for the final 15 minutes. Please, please, go see this movie. It's beautiful. It's brilliant. It's breathtaking. It's all those other hackneyed phrases.

Though some people I know have accused this film of being 'too heavy handed' in the enviromental message, one must remember that Japan has not had a few decades of Greenpeace, recycling and rainforests shoved down it's throat. This movie is the right movie at the right time, if not for us.

I have seen a few times in both the Japanese and the English (Gillian Anderson is a surprisingly apropreate mother wolf voice) and still find this a breathtaking, complex and perfect piece of animation. Unlike so many North American animation piece, there are no 'evil enemies' and true, valient causes. Almost everyone is in some way a sypathetic character, which speaks of the powerful storytelling medium Animation can be when giving the right tale.

Miyazaki is a true visionary, whos works deserve wider recognition in North America by the public in general. Hopefully the wonderful exposure this movie has gotten will bring more of his work over.

Would you believe I first saw this movie when I was three?

The Last Unicorn is perhaps the best balanced piece of adult animation I've seen. It's not too violent or sexual, there's no cursing, but the dark themes and harsh world aren't suitable for anyone who still believes in unicorns.

It's adult not for nudity or gore, but because of the deep and intricate plot with many neutral characters who must work hard to aproach goodness, or who easily fall into evils of self indulgence and apathy.

There's no moral that hits you over the head. There's a lot of songs, but they actually work and you don't really realise how musical the film is. The theme will leave you in tears. There's not much in the way of humerous sidekicks, perky heroines or booable villians.

This is fantasy that has been brought into the real world, without the akward confines live action tends to bring. I'd recommend both watching the movie, and reading the book. If you're frightened of the idea of cartoons for grown ups, I recommend this as your perfect cure.

I'm currently 22 and have the movie on video. Memories of a lifetime, my friends.

I've noticed there aren't a lot of comments on this film, and for good reason. It's been burried in the annals of time, from that dark age where films where made before Direct to Video that were obviously prime candidates.

I managed to see the piece with my fiance last weekend on television as part of a run of 'bad movies'. We intended to go out to a show that night, but ended up caught up in the funny weirdness of the story, the sets, the acting, the whole mess, and couldn't leave. Each time we planned to get up to go, we remained seated, glued to the set, in awe of the bizzare feature. It was like some sort of perverse Estragon and Vladimir situation.

And if that isn't a recommendation, I don't know what is.

It's certainly no classic. It's a pretty lousy movie. The cheerful early seventies theme that opens the feature ("How happy we'll be, together you and me... Arrrrnold, Arrrnold!") is played over the background of a funeral in an obviously small soundstage with styrafoam tombstones and the obligatory raven and fog, which is of course hillarious.

But it's a fun watch. No one in it thinks they're in a classic, and the whole situation gets quite laughable frequently. It's got enough aspects of a whodunit to be vaugly interesting.

Best points are probably the police constable commenting 'Now, is this place a cemetary because it's always foggy here, or is it always foggy here because it's a cemetary?' and the tapedeck in the coffin. Oyvey!

The only word for it is 'hypnotic'. You'll keep watching. You won't believe what you're seeing, yet you'll have to watch more.

In the words of the bobby "If I hadn't a seen it I wouldn'ta believed it!"

Now, I'm not above a terrible movie for it's own sake. I love watching films where zombies or aliens or alien zombies are killing precocious teens by the dozens, but I just couldn't get into BE, not even for the sake of dear camp.

Oh, sure, it's a laugh, but it takes a dedicated afficionado of bad movies to sit this thing through. Apparently, every phrase with maniacal laughter was cut out of the video, but as I haven't seen it yet, I can't confirm. As it is, you've probably read through the plot summary, which makes Star Wars look like War and Peace. The camerawork hurts to watch, the effects are cheesetacular, especially considering the obvious effort they went through.

But what this movie REALLY lacks is any of the actors, even in the slightest, understanding the bloated badness and sharing the joke with us. Sure, that works for a short Ed Wood flick, but for a huge Hollywood hemmorage? Please. I want at least ONE smile and wink.

For all those conspiracy theorists out there, there isn't even anything like any of L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology theories in it, except possibly that the bad guys are called Psychlos as some sort of nod to his dislike of psychiartry.

The horrible thing is that might have made the movie better.

This is perhaps my favorite watchable movie of all time. It's always fun, always a laugh, and totally enjoyable. Though I think that the viewer is best served by watching all movies in chronological order, AoD also works as a fine stand alone movie, which is how I first watched it.

Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi's sence of slapstick makes it the funniest thing since Blazing Saddles in the comedy genre, and the special effects were for the time the most complicated use of animatrons. With a falling out of animatronics for use in crowd scences, it'll probably remain a unique landmark.

The best part, I feel, about AoD is the fact that it's good for watching over and over. I usually can't stand movies a second time around. The buildups become tedious, the relationship conflicts trite. But this movie, with it's almost militant sence of humour, is the perfect thing to pull out when nothing good is on. Watch it with friends.

Besides being the precursor to two very funny and campy horror movies, many people don't know that The Evil Dead (at least to begin with) starts out as a very respectable horror. Raimi's camera work is great and really sets a fine mood, and the cabin used is one of the best creepy locals I've seen.

The story is dumb. The movie is gory. There's a scene which I've jokingly referred to as 'Tree sex'. But the in movie set ups are very good, there's a lot of work up to the final outcomes, and overall, I'd say it's a great piece of horror both for what it is and what it inspires. If you've only seen Army of Darkness (by far the most successful of the trilogy), you MUST see this movie, and it's sucessor Evil Dead II.

For a first work done on a budget, it's definatly impressive.

Go. Enjoy. If possible, see all movies in one fell swoop. It's worth it.