The Last Unicorn

Blake3.0

Pretty cute and enjoyable but didn’t need to see the big titty tree

Marie

“I can feel this body dying all around me”girl, same

Sally Jane Black4.0

So then there's the kind of representation you find buried in things like this. The unicorn isn't trans or queer, but her coming-of-age tale resonates with those who have lived lives trapped as something else, locking away their identities, trying to find happiness in connections they will never be able to sustain. People who do queer reading or trans reading aren't wrong when they apply those characteristics to many of the old characters hidden in plain sight (at times, the intentions of the filmmakers are too obvious), but there are times it is applied where no intention or even reasonable interpretation could go--because in a representation-starved demographic, we latch onto anything that seems remotely familiar."Now that I'm a woman" is a curious line from a character that is depicted as female throughout the film, but the intention is "human woman" and the undertone is "adult." Unicorns have often been connected symbolically to innocence; it's an obvious connection. This is about the yearning for an eternal childhood, about what happiness and immortality are, about the stories of our youth, the fairytales that guide us or mislead us or simply delight us. This is a story about growing up, about the power of being who you are over living a lie, about the value of maturity. It's about what is and what isn't, about illusion and reality. It's about letting go of lies and knowing your true self.There's so much of that that is powerful to a trans person, but also to so many cis people. It just has a different flavor when you're trans, because of our relationship to some of those ideas. This is far from a queer film, but it leaves space for us in a weird way: it doesn't center heterosexual romance. Oh, it's there, and it's a major part of the story, but it's neither the central plot nor the happy ending. It's used not to minimize the unicorn, but to empower her, and not by making her a shadow of the man. This is not feminism; it's just basic storytelling. It leaves the door open for more than just one kind of person, and that's valuable, especially in a children's movie.It still fails to be inclusive of, say, children of color. It's not simply a lack of children of color, though, but the inclusion of some ugly stereotyping among the outlaws, as if to say "this kind of different is evil and stupid." It has a moment of gross sexual humor with the tree that really has no place anywhere, as well. The film is not perfect, sadly, and its forays into the strange sometimes break the spell of immersion that makes fantasy films so powerful. And the soundtrack is wretched (don't @ me). But the animation is beautiful. The Red Bull is terrifying. The harpy is amazing. The scenery is gorgeous. The character design is, when not unfortunately offensive, just unreal enough to be not uncanny and just real enough to be relatable. Does it stand up to childhood memories? Oddly, I think this is a better film as an adult. It makes more sense (when it makes sense at all), like the magic of Robin Hood pulling people away or the way the Red Bull traps the unicorns (of course, they're protected by the sea from a fire monster--kid me just did not get it). The themes make it a much stronger film; it's the sort of thing someone should watch with and talk about with their kids, not just let them watch alone.