FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST [1992 / 2011] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
They Lived in A Secret World, Touched by Magic and Surrounded by Adventure!
There's magic in the rainforest and it's called FernGully! Deep in the heart of the forest awaits a paradise filled with tiny sprites, winged fairies and tree spirits who all live in joyful harmony. But when their home is threatened by humans, one courageous sprite gives her all to save it! Featuring the voice talents of an all-star cast – including Robin Williams, Tim Curry, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ is a fantastical adventure into a world you'll want to visit again and again!
FILM FACT: Awards and Nominations: 1992 Annie Awards: Nominated: Best Animated Feature for FAI Films. 1992 Environmental Media Awards, USA: Win: Best Feature Film. 1993 Fantafestival: Win: Special Jury Prize for Bill Kroyer. 1993 Genesis Awards: Win: Animated Feature Film.
Voice Cast: Tim Curry (Hexxus), Samantha Mathis (Crysta), Christian Slater (Pips), Jonathan Ward (Zak), Robin Williams (Batty Koda), Grace Zabriskie (Magi Lune), Geoffrey Blake (Ralph), Robert Pastorelli (Tony), Cheech Marin (Stump), Tommy Chong (Root), Tone LÅÂc (Goanna), Townsend Coleman (Knotty), Brian Cummings (Ock), Kathleen Freeman (Elder #1), Janet Gilmore (Fairy #1), Naomi Lewis (Elder #2), Danny Mann (Ash / Voice Dispatch), Neil Ross (Elder #3), Pamela Adlon (Fairy #2), Anderson Wong (Rock), Lauri Hendler (Additional Voice), Rosanna Huffman (Additional Voice), Harvey Jason (Additional Voice), Dave Mallow (Additional Voice), Paige Pollack (Additional Voice), Holly Dorff (Additional Voice) and Gary Schwartz (Additional Voice)
Director: Bill Kroyer
Producers: Brian Rosen, Jeff Dowd, Jim Cox, Peter Faiman, Richard Harper, Robert W. Cort, Ted Field, Tom Klein, Wayne Young and William F. Willett
Screenplay: Jim Cox (screenplay) and Diana Young (original stories)
Composer: Alan Silvestri
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio,
Spanish: 5.1 Dolby Digital
French: 5.1 DTS
Dutch: 5.1 Dolby Digital
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Thai and Turkish
Running Time: 76 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: 20th Century Home Entertainment
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ [1992] routinely gets mistaken for being a Don Bluth film. This animation film was actually directed by Bill Kroyer, who actually helped with visual effects on the original 'TRON.' However, this mistaken identity is easy to understand because the look and feel of ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’seems in line with the animation and themes that Don Bluth took on during his illustrious animation reign. Even without the influence of Don Bluth and Bill Kroyer guides a film that holds up relatively well 20 years later.
Needless to say, I love this animated film. Like many cartoons from when I first got interested in animation films, ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ is lodged directly into my nostalgia cortex of my brain. I always remember it fondly. I remember not only loving the animation film ages ago, but loving the joy it inspired in me and my friends. And we are now entering a sort of emotional territory, I know, but I feel that you should know of my undying love for this animation film before we move on.
If it's been a little too long, here's a refresher on the plot. Crysta [Samantha Mathis] is a fairy who is learning the ways of her elder, Magi [Grace Zabriskie]. Magi recounts a story to Crysta during the opening credits about an evil entity named Hexxus [Tim Curry] who terrorises the forest, laying waste to everything in his path. The humans fled the forest and are feared extinct by the fairies. Whereas Magi was able to trap Hexxus in a giant magical tree where he remains today.
The story also involves a human named Zak [Jonathan Ward], a young boy who is out in the forest working a summer job cutting down trees. After a chance meeting with Crysta, Zak gets shrunk by Crysta's misguided fairy magic. Now, the size of Crysta, he's able to see the adverse effects of his logging on the rainforest.
If this animation film came out nowadays, imagine the uproar it would cause with the climate change protesters. The animation film makes no bones about being an environmental public service announcement aimed at younger audiences. Wrapped up in its fun and fancy animation is a message that says, "See kids! See what happens when we methodically destroy our rainforests?" Today ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ would be decried as a blatant attempt to brainwash our children into becoming nature-loving hippies. I tried to find any sort of controversy surrounding the release of ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ in 1992, but it came up empty. Perhaps the world was simpler in 1992 or maybe we were all a little less cynical. Whatever the case may be, I'm glad ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ came out when it did, because it wouldn't have survived the vicious onslaught that it would've received today.
Adding to the unconcealed message of conservation is the depiction of Hexxus as a large, monstrous entity made of smoke and sludge who feeds on pollution. Yes, it's completely obvious what Bill Kroyer and company are trying to accomplish with this animation film. I always enjoyed Hexxus, who is another reason why this animation film is as often confused as being Don Bluth work. Hexxus is scary, which is something of a taboo when we are talking about villains in children's films. Don Bluth routinely put villains in his animated films that felt scary and real, providing little to no intentional comedy associated with them in order to lighten the mood. Here Hexxus sometimes appears as a smoke monster, but other times as a creepy skeletal figure made of oozing sludge. It could be frightening for younger children but it drives home the purpose of this animation film even further, giving a chilling face to pollution so kids can understand its destructive nature.
‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ also has a cute little love story attached to it where Zak and Crysta become enamoured with each other, but that isn't the real reason for its existence. When we come to the end and find that the animation film has been dedicated to, "Our children and our children's children," we know for sure that this was mainly a propaganda film. It had an agenda that would've created serious waves had it been released today. Agree with its message or not, ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ is fearless in its convictions, you have to give it that and certainly ahead of its time, especially on the environmental issues and the destruction of the Amazon Rain Forrest.
‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ has one strong and unexpected asset, it'd have to lie in the voice cast. As the strangely alluring Crysta, Samantha Mathis does some very lovely voice work here, and Christian Slater plays semi-jilted man-fairy "Pips" with some rascally charm. And as is often the case in any sort of animated feature, the supporting cast is a truly eclectic group of performers: Robin Williams (in his first animated gig) who sadly is no longer with us, Tim Curry (as the enjoyably evil slime beast known as Nexxus), Grace Zabriskie, Robert Pastorelli, Tone Loc, and Cheech & Chong. Even if you only spend 70 some minutes playing "name that voice," you will have a pretty good time exploring this.
FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST MUSIC TRACK LIST
LIFE IS A MAGIC THING (Written by Thomas Dolby) [Performed by Johnny Clegg]
A DREAM WORTH KEEPING (Written by Jimmy Webb and Alan Silvestri) (Orchestra arranged by Jimmy Webb) [Performed by Sheena Easton]
BATTY RAP (Written by Thomas Dolby) (Additional lyrics by Stuart Young and Nik Young) [Performed by Robin Williams]
LITHUANIAN LULLABY (Traditional) [Performed by Veronika Povilioniene]
IF I’M GONNA TO EAT SOMEBODY (It Might As Well Be You) (Written by Jimmy Buffett and Mike Utley) [Performed by Tone LÅÂc]
SPIS, LI MILKE LE (Written by Georgi Minchev) [Performed by Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares]
TOXIC LOVE (Written by Thomas Dolby) [Performed by Tim Curry]
BAMNQOBILE (Written by Joseph Shabalala) [Performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo]
RAINING LIKE MAGIC (Written by Raffi Cavoukian) [Performed by Raffi Cavoukian]
TRI JETRVE (Traditional) [Performed by Zbor i orkestar KUD "Joza Vlahovic" and Zagreb]
LAND OF A THOUSAND DANCERS (Written by Chris Kenner) [Performed by Guy]
SOME OTHER WORLD (Written by Bruce Roberts and Elton John) [Performed by Elton John]
Blu-ray Image Quality – This is a 20th Century Home Entertainment release Blu-ray Disc has been provided with a brilliant 1080p encoded transfer complete with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. First, let me say that this presentation is far superior to the look of the previous inferior DVD release. It's cleaner, brighter, and the colours are much more vivid this time around. The detail in the animation is clearly seen rather than hidden away in the murky DVD picture; I never knew what I was missing. The real winner here is the amazing colour. The inferior DVD always looked too washed out, too bland. But here the colour has a much darker, much more natural feel to it. The greens of the Australian rainforest are lush while the blackness of Hexxus oozing sludge persona is deep and foreboding. However, the animation does routinely run into problems. Colour does flicker from time to time. Lines, spots, specks and dirt can be seen throughout the runtime. It isn't nearly as dirty or unwatchable as, say, 'All Dogs Go to Heaven,' but it is rather noticeable. With that said, I thought that this transfer, overall, looked much cleaner than the inferior DVD image. Yes, it has a way to go in order to meet the high bar set by Disney's flawless restorations of its older animated titles, but there does seem to be some TLC care put into this image transfer.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – 20th Century Home Entertainment has produced a wonderful 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround track which really adds a much needed kick to the animation film's presentation. Besides the dialogue being mixed a little too low, I was really impressed at the way this lossless mix integrated the animation film's ambient sound, producing a very well-balanced and aggressive surround sound mix. Let me tell you, you've never heard ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ with this much low-end bass. As the humans move through the forest demolishing everything in their path, the sub-woofer rumbles every time a large tree topples to the forest floor. Musical numbers, like Batty's Rap, are given plenty of accompanying bass. The rear speakers are full of forest life and Alan Silvestri's memorable score. As the trees begin to fall we hear birds and animals fleeing the scene as the rear speakers capture their movements. The rear channels are also alive with activity as Crysta outruns a swooping hawk and when Hexxus bellows and growls while destroying the forest. Fans of this animation film will be very pleased with this newly updated surround audio mix.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Director Bill Kroyer, Art Director Ralph Eggleston and Coordination Art Director Susan Kroyer: Right from the start, Bill Kroyer and his fellow filmmakers begin explaining, in depth, about the animation of the opening sequence and how it was done in 3 or 4 days and how it involved a 40-foot camera pan. From there the commentary moves on to cover various technical aspects. You hear the words "exposure" and "cell’s" a lot as they talk candidly about how hard some of the scenes were to get animated. Bill Kroyer points out pretty much every time when CGI is used in a particular scene. If you are an animation buff you will definitely want to listen to the audio commentary as it has a lot of in-depth information about all aspect of this animated film.
Special Feature: Seed of the Story: Script-to-Screen Comparisons [1992] [480i] [1.37:1] [8:00] Here we get five different scenes and we get to see how the script compared to the original storyboards of the animated film. There is optional audio commentary provided by screenwriter Jim Cox if you're interested. Jim Cox’s audio commentary is pretty droll, but covers the basic underpinnings of the characters and the plot. There are five separate scenes to look at and they are as follows: "Original Opening," "Crysta Meets Batty," "First Encounter," "Hexxus' Instructions," and "Zak's Confession."
Special Feature: From Paper to Tree: Making-Of Documentary [1992] [480i] [1.37:1] [30:00] The most interesting aspect of the film covered here in viewing the evolution of the animation. Other than that you're looking at interviews from a few of the filmmakers along with voice-actor Samantha Mathis. Behind-the-scenes footage of voice recording sessions is also a great deal of fun to watch.
Special Feature: Behind the Voice: Toxic Love [1992] [480i] [1.37:1] [3:00] It's touted as a "multi-angle" documentary, but it doesn't really show multiple angles of the same scene. What it does show is multiple stages of how the Hexxus musical scene was put together. Here you're allowed to toggle through four options by using the Angle button on your remote to view the particular film scene, Tim Curry's recording booth footage and storyboards. Or you can simply squish all three together on the same screen to see them side-by-side if this is your preference to view this special feature.
Special Feature: Music Video: If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody (It Might As Well Be You) [1992] [480i] [1.37:1] [4:17] This music video is from Tone LÅÂc, where it mixes animation, film clips, and performance footage together.
Trailers and TV Spots [1992] [480i] [1.37:1] [7:00] Here we get the Theatrical Trailers [5:00] and a few TV spots [2:00] are included.
Finally, ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ remains one of my fondest environmental animation film, especially this one, even after revisiting it. Many times I revisit animation films I used to watch as a child and they simply don't hold up, whereas ‘FERNGULLY: THE LAST RAINFOREST’ does. Sure, it has a thinly-veiled environmental message, but that's the point of the animation film in the first place. It is an animation film that I've been waiting for to come out on a Blu-ray disc and now we finally have it. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys wonderful animation and also has a serious message in telling us that our planet Earth is in a very precious special place to live and the only ONE for us to live on and should be more respected, especially in the 21st Century. Despite my gloomy message, it will not stop you enjoying this jewel in the crown Blu-ray disc and so happy and proud to add this to my Blu-ray Collection and will give you endless hours of viewing pleasure. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
