The Grisly Animated Movie Conclusion That Stays With Viewers
Among all the mature cartoon movies I have ever viewed, no other has remained with me quite like the dread-soaked conclusion of the viscerally violent and deeply subversive film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.
Back in 2015’s, the Spanish writer-director developed a dark, somber , often savage world that included several minor , forlorn hints of hope.
Although The Unicorn Wars feels like it stemmed from an impulse to advance animation even more, the filmmaker clarified that it was rather an attempt to express a global, cross-cultural message regarding “the common origin of all wars.”
This theme is conveyed through a band of colorful pastel bears , clearly modeled after a well-known line of cuddly characters.
Growing up in a society focused on aggression as well as the military-industrial complex, a lot of the bears are obsessed with killing unicorns, thanks to a religious scripture which states them they used to be kings of the woodland, before the horned beings forced them out.
Others did not entirely bought into the indoctrination, , would rather sample substances and engage sexually in the woods.
Unlike their friendly equivalents, these colorful critters display sexual organs , clear libidos.
For a certain particularly cruel, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the conflict with the unicorns turns into a path to control — and specifically to supremacy above his softer, kinder brother the bear Tubby.
The character is a bully , an apparent psychopath , and when fear dominates his unit and kills his comrades individually, he takes progressively control for himself, in increasingly bloody, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, the unicorns are suffering their own terror, as an expanding, deadly beast in their forest.
“At the beginning, it appears as a comedy,” the director said. “But then it becomes a more serious and sad movie. And ultimately, it becomes a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars begins feeling a bit like one of the more quirky films by a legendary animator, which find a wicked pleasure in allowing cartoon characters curse, fire weapons, or have intimate relations.
Then it turns into something more like a bleaker movie from that creator, including ever more explicit brutality , a noticeable connection to the actual tragedy of battle.
In the finale, it’s a complete theatrical horror bloodbath.
The terror that makes the film a Halloween-friendly movie starts well before than one might expect.
Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted lovers of violence, for fans of graphic films who desire to view a film they’ve never watched previously, and can endure a plot that pulls no restraint.
View it in a dimly lit space with no disturbances, and the finale will burrow deep within you and take up residence there.
How to view: Accessible via rental or purchase on several streaming sites.
