The Last Unicorn

[elle_white]

 Last night, I finished re-reading The Last Unicorn. It had been a long, long time since I first read it, and I had much more vivid memories of the movie adaptation. But this is another example of the book being better than the movie.

The book explores the backgrounds and motivations of the characters in-depth, giving it more complexity and a sense of solid world-building. The movie cuts out a good deal of that, and it includes some things that were unnecessary. 

But the most striking thing about the novel is the downright lyrical prose. Peter S. Beagle has a way with words that made reading the story deeply compelling. "Scimitar smile," is such great character description. I feel as a writer, I've taken so much away from reading his works. And the tongue in cheek use of fairy tale tropes, and sly commentary on them comes across much smoother in the original novel than the movie, where it felt a tad forced. 

Honestly, this is such a beautiful, deep and quirky book with great characters, and I love it so much! 

Comments

[flamingstumpy]

I finally managed to watch the movie for the first time this year with my sweetheart, & the way you're describing the book? Makes me very excited at the prospect of reading it myself someday ♥

[elle_white]

The movie cuts out a lot of Prince Lir's backstory and Shmendricks. What did you think of the movie?

[flamingstumpy]

I liked it! Definitely something that would have be very formative to me if I'd watched it in my childhood.

But, as is, a nice movie. I liked a lot of Christopher Lee's dialogue & delivery. And the music. & a lot of things!

[elle_white]

Yeah, it was really formative for me. Because I first saw it when I was about ten. Christopher Lee was the perfect fit for King Haggard!