DVD review (region 1)
Directed by Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin, Jr
Starring Alan Arkin (voice), Jeff Bridges (voice), Mia Farrow (voice), Angela Lansbury (voice)
Release date Out now

When a unicorn (voiced by Mia Farrow) hears that she is the last of her kind, she begins a dangerous and unpredictable quest in search of others...

A number of people (this reviewer among them) consider Peter S Beagle’s novel The Last Unicorn to be one of the finest fantasies of the last 50 years. That's down to Beagle’s style as much as his substance, and, while he adapted his own book for the 1982 film version, something has gone missing in translation.

Much remains of Beagle’s most resonant themes (longing, illusion and how true heroism can mean setting free what is most loved), but, somehow, it's just an echo of the book's true sense of magic.

The voice cast, headed up by Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee, is excellent, but the anime imagery is rather flat by modern standards. Nevertheless, the transfer is beautifully realised.

Extras include an informative on-camera interview with Beagle, a game and an art gallery. Abbie Bernstein

VERDICT: 7/10
The animation could be better, but this is still the essence of good fantasy.