That Gruesome Cartoon Movie Conclusion That Lingers Audiences
Among every adult-oriented animated films I’ve ever watched, no other has lingered in my mind quite like the fear-filled conclusion of the viscerally violent and deeply subversive film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.
In the year 2015, the Spanish filmmaker created a dark, melancholy and often savage world with several minor , forlorn glimmers of optimism.
While The Unicorn Wars seems like it came from a desire to expand the medium further, the filmmaker stated that it was more a try to express a global, multicultural message about “the common origin of all wars.”
That idea is communicated through a group of vividly colored bears , clearly based on a well-known line of cuddly figures.
Maturing in a community focused on warmongering and the war machine, many of the bears are obsessed with slaughtering the mythical beasts, because of a sacred text which states the bears they were once kings of the forest, before these creatures expelled them.
Some have not completely bought into the brainwashing, and prefer to try out substances or mate in the forest.
In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these bright beings display sexual organs , definite sex drives.
For one especially vicious, skeptical animal, Bluey, the battle against unicorns transforms into a path to power — and specifically to supremacy over his more tender, nicer brother the character Tubby.
This bear behaves aggressively and an obvious sociopath , and as horror dominates his squad and kills his fellow soldiers individually, he seizes more and more power for himself, through ever more violent, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, the unicorns are suffering their own horror, through an expanding, harmful creature in their habitat.
“At the beginning, it appears as a lighthearted film,” the director stated. “But then it becomes a more intense and melancholic film. And by the end, it’s a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars begins resembling one of the most playful films by a legendary animator, which find a mischievous joy in permitting animated figures curse, engage in violence, or engage sexually.
Subsequently it evolves into something more like a bleaker work from that director, including ever more visual gore and a palpable relation to the actual tragedy of battle.
In the finale, it becomes an outright extreme drama massacre.
The horror that turns this an ideal spooky-season viewing begins much sooner than indicated.
The Unicorn Wars is ideal for the hardcore fans of gore, for enthusiasts of intense movies who wish to see something they’ve never seen on-screen before, and who can handle a plot which delivers no restraint.
See it with the lights off free from interruptions, and the conclusion will burrow under your skin and linger.
How to view: Available for rental or purchase on multiple streaming sites.
