L'odyssée fantastique

I recently saw this when it premiered on Odyssey for two nights, and I have also been anxious to see it when I heard about it back in April of 2000.

Voyage of the Unicorn is originally based on the novel "Voyage of the Basset" by James C. Christensen and tells the story of Professor Alan Aisling (Beau Bridges) and his two daughters Cassie (Chantal Conlin) and Miranda (Heather McEwen), trying to overcome the death of their mother. They soon embark a mystical journey on the majestic ship called the Unicorn, assisted by two dwarfs (pardon me, one is an elf named Sebastian, played by extremely cute Kristian Ayre - I am a huge fan of his!!) with one named Malachi. They encounter different creatures such as the Minotaur and Medusa, and all trying to save the King and Queen of the Faeries from the evil troll Skotos.

This is a delight to watch full of adventure, fantasy, romance, and lots of family enjoyment. I really liked it and it will certainly bring a new meaning out the saying "Seeing is believing." And Sebastian is adorable too... as he always is.

I first saw this movie when I was a teen. This week I decided to give it a second go and review it.

A professor with a positive message is coping with the loss of his wife along with his two daughters. Suddenly they are transported into another fantasy realm on a magical ship where they have to fullfill this magical prophecy.

The props are well done for it's time and budget and especially the trolls and their war vessel are impressive. Only let down is that the (real) lower teeth of the main bad guy troll are clearly visible when he speaks. The ship is also well made, although I find the ship's role and the whole nautical voyage to be a given too little time in the movie, just like the Dawn Treader in Narnia, but hey, that's just me speaking a former seaman.

Unfortunately, there is also plenty of cheese. The glasses of Medusa for example, the fights where Malachi jumps around doing backflips that add nothing at all. Also the main characters are sometimes incredibly dumb. Why did Cassie walk into the Minotaurs lair on her won like that ? Why didn't Medusa use her ability to turn their enemies into stone ? Oh well, maybe I shouldn't overanalyze a TV fantasy film for kids.

So yeah, if you liked The voyage of the Dawn Treader you will enjoy this, but don't expect a hight budget movie for adults.

Some good eye candies are ruined in this movie by the most outrageous comments I've heard in a children's movie. "When it comes to magic, don't ask too many questions" came out of one child's mouth. The writer's obviously no fan of William Drummond ("He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave"). Or how about some Socrates ("There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance").

"Faith precedes miracles" is another gem from the child. But when faith doesn't work, it's fate, or God's will, or a test, or, uh, mysterious ways.

The film also sets up from the start a false dichotomy about reality and magic. That, of course, implies a god of the gaps, and in any case, as Friedrich Nietzsche pointed out, "a casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."

The funniest thing, though, is that the dad let slip that "snakes are common in mythology." Then the child devalues the library.

Then the dad attempts magic and the daughter an Indian dance. The story ends with the girl saying, "By believing one sees." That's all the evidence anyone has of faith: they must first delude themselves.

Voyage of the Unicorn is a mini-series which premiered on Odyssey Channel 3/2/01 & 3/3/01. It involved a lot of the same producing staff as another great mini-series 10th Kingdom. The plot development is fast but easy to understand. The scenery is beautiful. The general plot is a mythology professor (Beau Bridges) and his 2 daughters get whisked away into a fantasyland where they discover they must save the fairyland from the dreaded and terribly evil trolls. They have a great adventure and meet loads of interesting characters on the way to saving the fairyland. The film is a great story for all ages. If you liked 10th Kingdom, you'll like this story too

Although Beau Bridges is getting a little long in the tooth to play the father of teenagers, much less a swashbuckler, he once again provided us with good entertainment. Thank you Beau. The rest of the cast was up to the job as well. Some,(but not all) of the makeup was a little mask-like, but the overall effect was pretty good. The only low point was a sequence involving the older daughter which looked like a music video produced by a seventh grade drama class. Fortunately it didn't last long enough to make me go for the remote. All in all it is a good watch and a lot of good clean family entertainment. A few parts may be a little scary for the younger kids (Tho I've seen seven year olds play video games that scare ME) but if you explain to them ahead of time that its only a fairy tale they should be o.k.. Its well worth watching. I'll give it a score of eight.