| FernGully: The Last Rainforest | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Bill Kroyer |
| Produced by | Peter Faiman Wayne Young |
| Screenplay by | Jim Cox |
| Starring | Jonathan Ward Samantha Mathis Tim Curry Christian Slater Robin Williams |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri Orchestrator/Conductor: William Ross |
| Studio | Kroyer Films FAI Films |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | April 10, 1992 (North America) September 17, 1992 (Australia) |
| Running time | 75 min. |
| Country | Australia United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $32,710,894 |
FernGully: The Last Rainforest is a 1992 Australian-American animated film directed by Bill Kroyer, produced by Peter Faiman and Wayne Young, and written by Jim Cox based on a book of the same name by Diana Young. It is a film with a strong environmental theme. The film features the voice talents of Jonathan Ward as Zak, Samantha Mathis as Crysta, Tim Curry as Hexxus, Robin Williams as Batty Koda, and Christian Slater as Pips.
The film was released in the United States on April 10, 1992 and in Australia on September 17, 1992, and received mixed to positive reviews. In 1998, the film was followed by the direct-to-video sequel, FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue.
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A curious fairy girl named Crysta sees a part of the world she has never seen before beyond FernGully, a rainforest near Mount Warning, Australia. She believes humans dwell on Mount Warning; however, the wise sprite of the forest and Crysta's motherly figure, Magi Lune, says humans are now extinct. She says that they fled, driven away by an attack by Hexxus, the spirit of destruction and all that is toxic to nature, never to return and presumed dead; Hexxus was defeated by the fairies and imprisoned inside a tree. Crysta mentions a black cloud that she saw rising near the mountain, and Magi identifies it as smoke, but dismisses her speculation that the smoke might be Hexxus.
Befriending a mentally unstable yet comical fruit bat named Batty Koda who has been experimented on by humans and now has wires and antennas fused into his head, Crysta heads to Mount Warning where she finds dead trees all marked with red aerosol paint crosses, which mark them for cutting. The camera then pans through the trees to reveal the source of the smoke, which turns out to be the exhaust from a huge tree leveler. She finds male humans, and accidentally shrinks one named Zak in trying to prevent him from being crushed by a tree. He gets stuck on a spiderweb on the tree that's just about to go through a tree shredder. She tries to get him off but can't when Batty swoops in, grabs them both off of the spider web and blames Crysta for her almost getting killed, because she did not listen to him.
Zak goes on a wild adventure with Crysta and Batty, nearly getting eaten by a hungry Goanna lizard named Lou, and unexpectedly falls in love with Crysta. Meanwhile, Zak's superiors cut down an enchanted baobab tree that Zak had inadvertently painted an X mark on while trying to spray a fly that was buzzing around him, discovering too late that Hexxus has been released from the tree. Seeking revenge upon the fairies of FernGully for imprisoning him, Hexxus apparently gains power from the pollution, specifically the energy and smoke produced by the Leveler, as he can be seen "drinking" from it like a liquid. He manipulates the lumberjacks and their tree leveler into tearing down the rainforest in the direction of the fairies by the next morning.
Eventually, Zak tells the truth about who he his and how the humans are destroying FernGully. The fairies join forces and fuse their powers together, creating a protective tree cage. Magi sacrifices herself, giving her power to the fairies and Zak, and it is up to Crysta and the other fairies to defeat Hexxus. Zak turns off the leveler, causing Hexxus to lose all the energy he was gaining from it and disappear, but he soon rips out of the machine as a giant demonic skeleton creature made of oil that breathes fire. Crysta seemingly sacrifices herself like Magi did by allowing Hexxus to devour her in one bite, and uses her powers from inside him to grow a seed she had with her, imprisoning both Hexxus and the leveler inside a new tree with help from the fairies led by Pips. However, she emerges, unharmed and alive, from a flower soon after. Crysta sadly resizes Zak to normal size and he sets off with his fellow lumberjacks, Tony and Ralph, to try to stop the destruction of the rainforests. Meanwhile, Crysta takes Magi's place after learning finally how to control her powers.
Production time was greatly reduced by the use of computer animation to create elements such as flocks of birds that would have taken much longer to animate traditionally.[1]
The score of FernGully was composed by Alan Silvestri.[2] The soundtrack album was released by MCA Records with the following songs:
The response for the film from both critics and the public was mixed to positive. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 69% based on 13 reviews (9 positive, 4 negative).[4] Film critic Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, saying the film was visually "very pleasing," told a "useful lesson", "and although the movie is not a masterpiece it's pleasant to watch for its humor and sweetness."[5] The Austin Chronicle added that the film was "funny, pretty, touching, scary, magical stuff."[6] Janet Maslin of The New York Times had an unfavourable impression of the film, describing it as "[a]n uncertain blend of sanctimonious principles and Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetics".[2] FernGully grossed $32,710,894 worldwide, including $24,650,296 from the United States.[7]
Some reviewers have commented that the 2009 film Avatar used thematic and plot elements from FernGully: The Last Rainforest.[8][9]