Peter S. Beagle’s beloved The Last Unicorn is reportedly getting a live-action adaptation, an attempt that many fans hope would succeed given its cult-classic status. The book was immediately picked up by readers in the late 1960s, and when the animated movie was released in 1982, it completely shocked the audience.
The film may have been a mild success, but we cannot forget how wild some scenes were. Many Gen X viewers had nightmares about it, and with the report of a reboot, I hope it won’t traumatize today’s children.
The Last Unicorn is better than LOTR, according to Peter S. Beagle
The Last Unicorn has a simple and straightforward plot. It follows a female unicorn who learns that she’s the last of her kind because a malevolent villain called the Red Bull has been driving the rest of her pals to the ends of the earth. She goes on a journey to find them.
This may sound like a typical children’s story with stunning visuals, but I find it too dark for kids. There were a bunch of modern remakes that blatantly transformed fairy tale stories into horror movies, but this one only used subtle hints.
There were a couple of bizarre sequences in the movie that did not genuinely suit the younger audiences. For example, there were scenes where a character was brutally killed on screen. Violence was very prominent, especially with the Red Bull trapping the unicorns.
The whimsical vibe of the movie in the introduction immediately turned into horror, and a whole generation of kids was massively traumatized by it.
When asked if he was happy with the adaptation of his novel to screen, Peter S. Beagle told SciFi.com that he thinks it was far superior to the animated version of The Lord of the Rings.
As for The Last Unicorn, by comparison it is magnificent—at least it follows the story, as much as we could. Some parts of it are better than others.
Beagle wrote the screenplay for the 1978 LOTR animated film, which he believed was good, but artistically, it was a disaster. It received mixed reviews, with a consensus noting how it never lived up to the source material. On the other hand, The Last Unicorn, which earned almost $6.5 million, was lauded by critics despite its shortcomings when it comes to animation.
Will there be a planned live-action reboot of The Last Unicorn?
Back in 2014, Black Eyed Peas member Fergie and former husband Josh Duhamel were reportedly developing an adaptation. At the time, it was only a rumor, and no confirmation was ever made except for a now-deleted post on Beagleverse’s FAQ section.
Shared by MovieWeb, the FAQ site noted that “a stage production and live-action movie of The Last Unicorn are both in the works,” but did not provide any further details.
The post no longer exists, which could hint that the rumored planned project may not be happening after all.
Still, it would be great to see a live-action version of The Last Unicorn. With our technology today, the animation would definitely slap.
The Last Unicorn is currently available to watch on Prime Video.
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