The experience of revisiting films from your childhood is always a crap shoot. Some films get better while others make you realize how bad they actually were. There are messages built into children’s films that you don’t even realize as a kid but when you return to one nearly fifteen years later it’s amazing how blunt those messages actually are. This is exactly the case with the magical and slightly creepy animated feature, FernGully: The Last Rainforest, directed by Bill Kroyer.
Featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Tim Curry, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, FernGully focuses on a magical paradise in the forest that’s filled with tiny sprites and fairies who help maintain life in the forest and in live in harmony with it all. Not too far away, there are humans, who were thought to be extinct, cutting down trees and when one named Zak catches one of the fairies named Crysta (Samantha Mathis), she shrinks him and brings him back to FernGully. Unbeknownst to Zak or the fairies, an evil oil slime creature named Hexxus (Tim Curry), which has been trapped for many years in a tree, was released by the humans and has manipulated them to destroy the forest. Using the teachings of her mentor, it’s up to Crysta to defeat Hexxus and save FernGully.
The movie is one massive commentary on humans and the destruction they are causing to the planet, and it is very obvious the screenwriter and director aren’t trying to hide it. From Hexxus, the massive oil blob who represents destruction and sings about crude oil, diesel and destroying the earth to Batty Koda (Robin Williams), an escaped bat that has been experimented on by the humans, FernGully wants people to know that humans are destroying one of the most important, diverse, and beautiful ecosystems on the planet without regard for the repercussions to the species that live in it. They also forget that they are actually a part of it too.
When it comes to the entertainment aspect of it, the movie utilizes Robin Williams for the comedic relief while the rest of the film is about being transported into a world that needs to be seen from the perspective of a fly. Utilizing vibrant colors and a few fun musical numbers, the FernGully frolics along at a fun and easy pace, short enough for kids to remain attentive and long enough for adults to appreciate. The film ends with the following dedication “For our children and our children’s children” and it’s amazing how even more appropriate that dedication is today.
As for the blu-ray itself, the transfer to HD is pretty good. It looks a lot better than the VHS I used to watch the movie on so no complaints on the quality front. As for the special features see the breakdown below:
Commentary with Director Bill Kroyer, Art Director Ralph Eggleston and Coordinating Art Director Susan Kroyer
Seed of the story: Script-to-Screen Comparison with optional commentary by Screenwriter Jim Cox—This is an eight minute segment with five parts: original opening, Crysta meets Batty, First encounter, Hexxus’ Instructions, Zak’s confession. Cox briefly explains each of these scenes and the thought process behind them. He talks about the environmental aspects and how humans and nature once lived in harmony until destruction/Hexxus comes along. He talks about how Robin Williams was always envisioned as the voice of Batty and explains how Hexxus was originally going to look like a witch and how that evolved into less of a human and more of a force.
From Paper to Tree: Making-of-featurette—An in-depth, half hour featurette that takes us through the entire creative process from Diana Young, the Author of the FernGully stories to the drawing, colorizing and animated process. Director Bill Croyer walks us through it and explains it all in simple terms so that even the technically challenged can understand it. The film’s morals and technical achievements are also highlighted and even show us some footage from their screening at the United Nations, the first of its kind. Essentially this is a good old fashioned detailed look at the 90s hand drawn animation process. The most interesting fact to me was that there was easily up to 10,000 drawings in a three minute sequence, so imagine how many drawing there were for a full length feature. This is a feature worth watching if you’ve always wondered how a hand drawn animated film was made.
Behind the Voice: Toxic Love-Multi Angle Scene Study—This is a cool segment that spans the entire Toxic Love musical scene. You can watch the scene in four different ways. The original, fully animated way, the non colorized, partially animated way, Tim Curry performing the song in the studio or all three on one screen. It’s pretty cool to see it all come together on one screen.
Original Featurette (1992)—This is a six minute featurette that is essentially an abridged version of the From Paper to Tree: Making-of-featurette except with the addition of professional voiceover to make it seem official.
Music Video: “If I’m Gonna Eat Somebody (It Might as Well Be You)” – Talk about a 90s hip hop family friendly music video.
Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots—The title says it all.
Movie Rating: Avatar’s environmental commentary ain’t got sh*t on this one. Every kid should see it (6.5/10)
Blu-ray Rating: 7/10
FernGully: The Last Rainforest is now available on blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
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