FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST (1992, Bill Kroyer)

 

* * * 

Deforestation threatens the creatures who dwell within the magical realm of FernGully.

Starring  Samantha Mathis, Christian Slater, Jonathan Ward, Robin Williams, Tim Curry 

Written by  Jim Cox

Produced by  Peter Faiman, Wayne Young   

Duration  76 minutes

    

Presenting FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST: myths vs reality.

Myth: Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis have only co-starred in two feature films.

Reality: Between teenage rebellion fable PUMP UP THE VOLUME (1990) and muted but fun John Woo actioner BROKEN ARROW (1996), they both lent their voices to FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST. Slater and Mathis play a pair of fairies, zipping in mild flirtation around an idealised rainforest of bright colours and anthropomorphised animals.

Mathis (the lead) plays the stock kids’ animation character of the youngster who dreams of a life outside their restricted community. Seriously, when will they drop this trope? It’s still going strong today, in things like SMALLFOOT (2018) and STRANGE WORLD (2022).

In this particular case, despite being warned to "never go above the canopy", Mathis can’t resist wondering what’s really out there and takes regular peeks, specifically wondering if human beings really exist or if they are merely the stuff of bedtime stories.

Slater, meanwhile, gets the short shrift in a disappointingly small part – he should have insisted on the role ultimately played by Jonathan Ward (see below).

Myth: FERNGULLY has an ecological subtext.

Reality: What’s it called when the subtext is actually on the surface and not at all buried underneath? Oh, that’s right. No, there’s no ecological subtext here – it’s FERNGULLY’s actual text.

You see, it had been assumed by the forest-dwellers that if human beings were actually real and not just the stuff of legends, they would be no threat to them. Then reality comes crashing through in the shape of enormous bulldozers, hellbent on reducing the trees that the adorable (and in some cases make-believe) creatures use as homes into someone’s dining room set.

Myth: Robin Williams made his animated debut playing a hyperactive genie in ALADDIN.

Reality: Before he signed on to be the blue lamp-dweller, he’d already agreed to play Batty Koda in FERNGULLY, a bat who knows that humans do exist because he's come from outside the forest where the two-legged ones have been using him as a lab rat.

Williams is (surprise surprise) the comic relief, and definitely used this as a warm up for the higher-profile part – he's all non-sequiturs, celebrity impressions, shouting, accents and anachronistic pop culture references.

Mercifully, his performance never reaches the irritating ‘heights’ of his more famous Disney role, where he would display so many symptoms of ADHD you wanted to force-feed him Ritalin through the screen.

 

Myth: Only Bart Simpson was saying ‘don’t have a cow’ in 1992.

Reality: Jonathan Ward, as a human lumberjack on whom Mathis uses her forest powers to shrink down to fairy size when he accidently wanders into FernGully, sprouts this nonsensical catchphrase at least once. He also has wavy blonde hair, rides a leaf down a tree trunk like a snowboard, and uses words like ‘bodacious’ and ‘tubular’.

Did I mention that this film was released in the early ’90s?

Myth: FERNGULLY is an American feature.

Reality: Actually, it was a co-production between the USA and Australia; primarily Yank voice talent but set in an Aussie rainforest.

It joins the ranks of other lauded Australian animations, in the great tradition of ... um ... well … did they ever do a cartoon version of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo?

Myth: Tim Curry essayed a wide variety of roles in ’90s movies.

Reality: He always played a snooty shit.

And unlike the meddling hotel concierge in HOME ALONE 2 (1991), or Cardinal Richelieu in THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1993), or Mr Jigsaw in LOADED WEAPON 1 (also 1993), or the duplicitous Romanian philanthropist in CONGO (1995), or Long John Silver in MUPPETS TREASURE ISLAND (1996), here he is literally the embodiment of evil: a dark spirit of the forest or somesuch, resembling a sentient oil spill in appearance, whose role in this affair is to encourage the humans to destroy FERNGULLY ... for reasons I never quite discerned.

As ever, Curry has a great time hamming it up as the dastardly antagonist, and even gets to belt out a musical number like he’s still in THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.

Myth: DANCES WITH WOLVES was James Cameron’s biggest influence for AVATAR.

Reality: Plot-wise, AVATAR is DANCES, for sure. But the same basic story is present in FERNGULLY, with the addition of the tree-hugging sensibility. Although it comes from a different perspective this time: we follow one of the natives, not the interloper.

Fellow animated effort EPIC (2013) is also cut from the same cloth, as is Ed Zwick’s 2003 Tom Cruise-starring THE LAST SAMURAI.

Myth: FERNGULLY was a flop.

Reality: It actually did modestly well, plus it birthed a no-stars sequel.

And there were rumours recently of a live-action remake, allegedly set to feature Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jim Carrey and Emma Thompson, which turned out to be bollocks. But someone went as far as to knock up a fake poster, so the desire is clearly out there.

Myth: FERNGULLY is a pretty mediocre and inconsequential cartoon feature film.

Reality: Look, it’s no THE LION KING or BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, or even a ROBIN HOOD or a THE SWORD IN THE STONE. And yes, it piles its agenda on with a shovel.

But it’s a charming enough yarn that has more on its mind than the standard be-yourself-and-find-your-own-path tedium that represents the usual thematic depth that young viewers get targeted at them.

And so, when it ends with a title card saying, ‘For our children, and our children's children,’ the sentiment feels properly earned.

Three stars out of five.

Valid use of the word ‘last’?  I’m all for using hyperbole to help make a point and deforestation is clearly a very real thing. But there are definitely still at least some rainforests left out there.

What would a movie called THE FIRST RAINFOREST be about?  According to the National Science Foundation (that nation being the USA): "Ancient Denvers [was] the first rainforest. Time period: 64 million-years-ago in the Early Paleocene (Cenozoic)." Little chance that it was under much threat from JCBs back then.

Previously:  THE LAST HOUSE

Next time:  THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

Check out my books:  Jonathanlastauthor.com

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH (2022, Joel Crawford)

 

* * * * 

Hard-living adventurer Puss in Boots has squandered eight of his nine lives, so sets off on a quest for the mythical Last Wish in the hope of reversing some of the old mileage.

Starring  Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone

Written by  Paul Fisher, Tommy Swerdlow

Produced by  Mark Swift   

Duration  102 minutes

 

The PUSS IN BOOTS films are all about immortalising Antonio Banderas. Someone in the DreamWorks hierarchy decided that if Banderas isn’t going to make live action appearances as El Mariachi or Zorro anymore, then audiences will have to settle for him in cartoon cat form. And it’s probably the best decision the studio’s notoriously patchy animation division has ever made.

Rarely has there been such a direct animated avatar for an established star. TOY STORY’s Woody may somewhat resemble Tom Hanks, but it’s still clearly an actor playing a part. When it comes to Puss, he is Banderas – or, rather, the particular kind of action hero that Banderas so refreshingly unleashed upon the world in the late ’90s.

This like-for-likeness had not been seen so blatantly since Woody Allen as literally Woody Allen in DreamWorks’ ANTZ, and the trend reached its peak (I mean, nadir) with the same studio's SHARK TALE, which gave us fish Will Smith and shark De Niro and Scorsese. There are more examples, but let’s suffice it to say that a reliance on celebrity voices and lookalikes is a hallmark of DreamWorks’ contribution to the field of animation, for good or for ill (mostly for ill.)

The jewel in DreamWorks' crown – animated or otherwise – is, of course, SHREK. The original movie burst onto the scene with a mission to target Disney in the snarkiest ways possible, from the titular ogre literally wiping his arse with pages from a fairy tale, to the even less subtle move of calling the villain ‘Lord Farquaad’ and making him resemble former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with whom DreamWorks co-supremo Jeffrey Katzenberg fell out back when they were both at the Mouse House. It’s also the most 2001 movie ever, with its MATRIX parody, Shrek fighting knights WWE-style and overuse of Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’ (the definition of ‘over’ here being ‘any more than never’.)

SHREK made a ton of money and looked like being a genuinely fresh alternative to the Disney/Pixar monopoly. That impression lasted for about five minutes, it becoming apparent that SHREK was actually not all that subversive after all and was, in fact, happy to become a lazy franchise that followed tired tropes and relied on those celebrity voices/character models, stale pop culture references and climatic dance parties. Frequently, the films fall back on the dubious appeal of Eddie Murphy on autopilot (with family filter on) and Mike Myers delivering the Scottish accent he'd been trying to get into every project since SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER.

However, as the SHREK films blundered through instalments like their green hero looking for more toilet paper, there was one shining light that shone through and eventually broke out.

Puss in Boots was introduced in a minor role in SHREK 2, before becoming more prominent in the third and fourth ones (and, by the way, a fifth is coming, in case your day was lacking some good news). The character’s popularity was such that Puss bagged himself a spin-off origin story in 2011 and now we have a sequel, THE LAST WISH.

From the start, the Banderas love is strong. The Goddamn thing opens just like DESPERADO, with our hero playing music in a cantina while battling villains. Since I would like to hope that the core audience’s familiarity with the oeuvre of Robert Rodriguez doesn’t extend beyond the SPY KIDS saga, WE CAN BE HEROES and that fucking one with Lava Girl or something, this is a targeted reference for the tag-along adults and is much appreciated.

And it doesn’t let up! Puss meets a grim reaper wolf whose ominous whistling to announce his arrival is a dead ringer for Charles Bronson’s chilling harmonica trill in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. The final standoff plays tribute to another Sergio Leone classic, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. In between, Puss experiences the malaise of a short-lived retirement in a home for over-the-hill kitties by zoning out to ‘The End’ by The Doors, emulating Martin Sheen in APOCALYPSE NOW; right after, he goes through his daily routine by way of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM-style hip hop montages.

And this is all before he teams up with the returning Kitty Softpaws, played by one-time Mrs Mariachi, Salma Hayek.

Picking out the mature movie references certainly helps sustain one’s interest in a children’s film, but that alone is not enough. Fortunately, THE LAST WISH is one of those rare beasts: a treat for all ages. The plot is propulsive and doesn’t lag too much into moralistic messaging; the supporting characters, like Harvey Guillén’s sincere puppy Perrito, manage to be endearing rather than annoying; it’s visually thrilling, even if it appears to succumb to that awful AVATAR 2 increased frame rate business during the most frantic scenes.

It even survives some woeful Cockney stereotyping. Goldilocks and her trio of bear companions are seeking the same wish-granting star, and push the cor-blimey-guvnor stuff with such commitment and verve that it goes all the way round again and actually becomes hilarious. Well, the naturally posh Olivia Colman and Florence Pugh had to commit, at least – Ray Winstone may very well have recorded his lines in his normal voice down the phone while watching the West Ham result come in on Final Score with his TV muted.

THE LAST WISH’s box office has been strong, so I’m all for the inevitable follow-up, and for keeping Hollywood’s greatest Latino leading man (sorry, Javier and Oscar) swashing buckles for as long as his voice can handle it.

Four stars out of five.

 

Valid use of the word ‘last’?  Part of the message here is that you already have what you wish for, if you pay attention to how lucky you are.

What would a movie called THE FIRST WISH be about? Probably something simple, like a fresh litter tray or one of those catnip mice to play with.

Previously:  THE LAST DUEL

Next time:  THE LAST EMPEROR

Check out my books:  Jonathanlastauthor.com