Apr 27, 2016
This review contains minor spoilers!
I decided to watch this movie on a whim, expecting nothing of it, and I was pleasantly surprised, particularly by the first 30 minutes of the film. After the absolutely adorable opening song, Unico is sent away to a wasteland. The lonely, cold atmosphere really got to me, and seeing Unico, the beacon of happiness and hope, pull through and turn the selfish, temperamental devil Akuma into a charmingly awkward friend was really inspirational.
Sadly, the rest of the movie is much more average and not well-constructed. The second character Unico meets on his journeys is Chao the cat, a far
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less charming friend than Akuma. She stays a boring ditz the whole movie, not really learning much from Unico.
The villain, while totally fearsome and creepy (mostly due to excellent visual design), really detracts from what the film could have been. He has no depth and is defeated without any emotional fanfare. While his battle with Unico might be visually grandiose, there is nothing of substance here.
I really did enjoy the bittersweet ending, though. Unico’s curse, bringing happiness to all, but never being able to stay with his friends, is tragic but meaningful to me. The plot and pacing are really unfocused for most of the film, leading to plenty of interesting themes…that are completely underutilized.
Still, I really admire how atmospheric and interesting the visuals are in Unico. The sheer scale of important figures like the West Wind, the Night Wind and the villain is immediately apparent with their distinct designs that look great animated. Unico is literally the most adorable character on the planet. The whole package oozes creativity.
I should also mention that while this is technically a children’s film, I wouldn’t recommend it for really young ones. There’s plenty of violence and dark atmosphere, a very imposing big bad, not to mention subtle rapey undertones.
Unico has a lot of problems, but its heart and creativity push it into the 7/10 territory for me. On a bad day, maybe 6/10. I recommend it to anyone who’s a sucker for this power of friendship type of stuff and wants to see some fun art and animation. There are much worse things you can spend your time on.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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