Unico

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 ... 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.

This is cute movie to watch with the kids (if you have some) or with a friend. The story is quite simple, which is not bad considering this is a kid's movies.
The music is very cute and the art is nicely done.

The fight scene towards the end of the movie was crazy and vibrant in color. The fight scene remind me of the dragon fight in sleeping beauty.

I would of liked to see Unico meet more people. but the two he did meet were both good. I liked the cat and her naïve. It drove the plot forward and caused good character ... development and was taught a good lesson about kindness. The demon Unico meets learns about friendship and how to be a good friend. Kid movies should have morals like these in them.

The west and winter winds are good plot devices, which can be use to continue the story indefinitely. Remember that this movie as a sequel.

I really wanted to see this film since months and is pretty good if you like old anime movies or you like the works of Osamu Tezuka. It is quite enjoyable even if it is a children's movie, Unico's story is simple but okay and I like the sad touch they give in the movie, apart from the fact that I love how cute his design is. The other characters in the movie are adorable and interesting, each with their own role so far in the story and as for the villain I don't have much to say because he appears suddenly but it's fine ... I guess although the end of the movie was the same what I liked the most, good ending for this movie. The artwork is precious and the songs fit well with the atmosphere of the movie. The truth is I hope Sanrio will remember Unico and release something new about him because he has a lot potential for more movies o even a anime series.