Voyage of the Unicorn
by Philip Spink
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Beau Bridges, C. Ernst Harth, Chantal Conlin, Heather McEwenDirector: Philip Spink
Cinematographer: John Spooner
Composer: Daryl Bennett
Composer: Jim Guttridge
Editor: Ron Yoshida
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 180 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Platinum Disc
Movie Reviews of Voyage of the Unicorn
Movie Review: Some original ideas diluted with too many old ones
Summary: 2 Stars
Hallmark releases about 1 - 2 fantasy movies per year, and this one starring Beau Bridges is probably one of the worst ones of this decade. The story is simple enough, a widowed father and his two daughters travel to a magical kingdom while chased by trolls. In the kingdom, they meet up with the Minotaur, Medusa, Oberon and Titania from Shakespeare's play, more trolls, a dragon, nymphs, and an assortment of other characters. The father is a professor, and in the magical kingdom he is prophesized to save them from the trolls.
If this movie came out in 2008, I would say it was a cheap knockoff of the LOTR, Harry Potter, Narnia and Stardust movies. But since it was actually released in 2001, it seems more like a cheap knockoff of other Hallmark movies. Here are some examples. The principal character is a single father with two daughters. In Hallmark's "The Tenth Kingdom" and "Snow White", the principal characters were a single father and his daughter. In this movie, our traveling family encounter a wide array of mythical and fairy tale creatures while sailing on a ship thru a magic kingdom. In "The Tenth Kingdom", the father/daughter duo encounter a wide array of fairy tale creatures while traveling thru a magic kingdome. In Hallmark's "Gulliver's Travels", Gulliver encounters a wide array of characters while sailing around the world. Then we have the part about a prophecy. Again, we can look at Harry Potter, Narnia, LOTR, and every other fantasy movie/book out there. The worse copying was in the look of the trolls; they could have been taken straight from the set of "The Tenth Kingdom" without any changes in dialogue, makeup or costume design.
Probably worst of all was the execution of the movie. In its 3 hours of running time, it has four very long swordfight scenes that probably last a total of 20 minutes. In all 20 minutes, there is only one scene where someone actually gets cut by a sword; the professor gets sliced across the arm. I understand Hallmark tries to make family-friendly movies, but the action sequences in this film were so diluted as to be pitiful. Hallmark's Merlin was a totally acceptable movie for children, and it had very realistic combat scenes that showed people getting stabbed, cut, and hacked to death. And most of the swordfight scenes suffered from that most horrible of symptoms; opponents would aim to hit the other's sword instead of the other's body.
There were some original scenes in the movie that actually stood out for being good. Principle among them is the College of Medicine scene that occurs inside a book. Another original scene is how the professor's family takes Medusa with them on their quest. However, there were also many original scenes that were just laughably stupid; one good example is when the older daughter, Miranda, summons a mermaid to drive away the sea serpent. Her song and dance looked like a really bad MTV video.
The casting for this movie was so-so. The two actresses playing daughters Miranda and Cassandra did not look anything at all like either the mother or father. For most of the other characters, the costume and make-up more or less disguised true faces. The only bright spot was the actress casted for Medusa, Kira Clavell. Her multi-ethnic ancestry gives her an exotic look perfect for a deadly but beautiful creature.
Another letdown was the comedy, or lack thereof. There were dozens of scenes where a well-placed line or change of detail would have added some laughs. A good example is when Cassandra sits down to eat with the Minotaur. He offers her a slab of meat as they sit surrounded by piles of bones. A more comedic turn would be to have the Minotaur be a vegetarian, and instead of being surrounded by bones of all the animals he has eaten, he is surrounded by all the animals he has stolen from nearby farms to save them from slaughter.
So all in all, this is a bad movie. It is not worth your time to watch it, or your money to buy it.
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