Whew. Okay, with that little rant out of my system I would like to just step back and say that despite my obvious anger towards FernGully, I am going to do my best to write as fair a review as possible. After all, it's not the films overall message I disagree with, it's the way that message is delivered I found frustrating.
The story of FernGully starts with a recounting of an age long past when fairies and humans lived in harmony with nature. Unfortunately Hexxus, an evil creature personifying destruction and the pollution of nature, ended all that when he tried to burn down the magical forest housing this idyllic setting. Only by calling upon all the powers of nature was Magi (the fairy people’s sort of spiritual leader) able to trap Hexxus in a tree and save FernGully. Unfortunately, all the humans who once lived there fled during the chaos and now fairies believe humans to only be a myth. Cue the discontent and inquisitive fairy girl Crysta. Though in training to replace Magi, Crysta (much like Ariel of the Little Mermaid) wants to see the world above the canopy (a place no sane fairy dare venture) and would like nothing more than to meet one of these fabled humans. Eventually this happens when Crysta encounters Zak, a teenage boy helping clear cut the rainforest FernGully resides in (a fact Crysta fails to realize). Through a series of unfortunate events, Crysta is forced to shrink Zak down to fairy size to save his life. Before this happens, however, Zak accidently marks the tree Hexxus is trapped in for removal, a mistake that eventually leads to Hexxus' escape. Unable to return Zak to normal size, Crysta and her new human friend must seek the aid of Magi, all the while Hexxus' specter draws closer and closer to FernGully.
Being that the mythology of FernGully is so tightly connected to the films environmental themes, it's difficult to judge one without the other. That said, I don't think the story of FernGully's is horrible, just really, really, really, really, really contrived. Overly romanticized ideas like "living as one with nature", or the perfect balance found in nature and how harming any tree causes pain, is insanely idealized and unnecessarily biased. Meanwhile, the force threatening this environmental serenity is an evil, uncompromising plume of black smoke that wants nothing but destruction. This coercive message is fine for guilting kids into felling bad about deforestation, but in my opinion the subject is much more complex and deserving of intelligent and honest writing. Telling your audience (especially children) that carving your name in a tree is “bad” reeks of excessive tree-hugging hippy fanaticism. If, however, you were to focus on the destruction of ecosystems - and the need to preserve them - go for it. Just don't make the antagonist some mustache twirling cliché, maliciously trying to poison the environment. Put a more honest face on the problem and challenge the viewer to think for themselves.
For an example of what I'm talking about, I would like to just take a moment and mention my two favorite environmentally themed films; Wall-e and the Princess Mononoke. In Wall-e we are shown a future where our throw away culture has literally turned earth into a garbage dump, and humans have been forced to leave the planet while robots "clean up" the mess. Additionally, the connectivity brought about by technology has resulted in a complete disconnect in terms of human interaction. Now reliant upon machines for survival, humans have become overweight, lethargic and complacent. At the root of all this isn't some sinister evil force though. It's just a really successful company trying to give people what they want. Unfortunately, the careless means used to achieve this end has resulted in the near destruction of our planet, and the human spirit. Conversely, the Princess Mononoke doesn't depict a world where commercialism and technology have run amok. But instead creates an alternate reality - similar to our own - where animal and forest spirits roam the wild. With the advent of guns, however, the spirits of nature find their habitat under attack and set out to fight back against the humans responsible for this plight. What really makes this movie brilliant though, is that Hayao Miyazaki (the film's director) crafts a story where there are no villains, just people with different agendas. Tragically, these agendas can be very destructive and harmful to nature, but the people behind them are not really evil, with some actually being quite noble. This is intelligent filmmaking. The way that Wall-e and the Princess Mononoke caution their audience without preaching to them makes for thought provoking entertainment, not preachy propaganda. Admittedly, it would be unrealistic to expect every film promoting the environment to be as good as these masterpieces, but some subtext isn't all that much to ask either.
As for FernGully's characters, they're decidedly bland. Crysta is just too archetypical. Whether it be her relationship as apprentice to Magi, her need to challenge conventional thinking or her romance with Zak, Crysta comes across feeling very trite and overly familiar. Zak is ridiculously predictable and transparent with his path to enlightenment - as well as his affection for Crysta - being painfully cliché. Batty ... well he's the comedic relief that never manages to be funny. His back-story involves animal experimentation by humans (Batty is a bat), so naturally he's very distrustful of Zak while reinforcing the films theme that humans are evil. Other than that, Battys only purpose is to try and generate laughs, something he fails to do 99% of the time he's on screen.
It's not all bad though (even if I make it sound that way). The stories pacing and structure are solid. Plus I liked the world building, though it really needed some more fleshing out. With some better characters - and a lot less sermonizing - FernGully could have been a respectable little film. Instead, the writer oversimplifies the subject matter to myopic notions like "man cut down tree ... bad, noble savage living at one with nature ... good". Personally I find this kind of guilt inducing environmental dogma offensive, even if I'm sympathetic to the cause.
On a more positive note, the animation and overall production value of FernGully is pretty solid. While not on the same level as the Disney features being released during the early 1990s (this movie was released the same year as Disney's Beauty and the Beast), FernGully's visuals were definitely feature film worthy.
The animation itself is very fluid, and appears to be twenty-four frames per second. The design work on the natural, supernatural and even man-made elements from the movie is also quite nice. The character designs (much like the characters themselves) are a little on the bland side unfortunately. Still, the color palette - which was primarily made up of warm colors - looks very good on screen, and the backgrounds are well rendered.
In short, FernGully is a relatively pleasant film to look at. There's a nice Don Bluth sensibility - both in terms of the character and background styling - that I found very appropriate and appealing given the stories setting. Once again, the visuals fall short of being exceptional, with numerous studios doing far superior animation at this time. That said, the quality and craftsmanship put into this film is undeniable, and it looks like a lot of love went into creating it.
The actors working on FernGully all do a pretty decent job as well. The biggest name of the bunch is obviously Robin Williams, who does the voice of Batty. As one would expect, the character has all the energetic, fast talking cadence Williams brings to most of his comedic rolls. Unfortunately, none of the jokes - or even the improv - really hits the mark despite Williams’s best efforts. Other than that, the only thing that bugged me was the lack of Australian accents for characters like Zak. I mean the kid’s driver’s license actually says he's from Australia. Why not give him a "down under" accent? Maybe this was done to help make the film more universal to English speaking audiences, but I honestly see no reason for Zak to not speak like an Aussie.
Musically speaking, FernGully is pretty weak. Like Disney, this film uses a number of songs to illustrate the emotions, desires etc. of its characters. Unlike Disney, the songs for FernGully are either egregiously bad or completely forgettable. The worst - by far - was the Batty Rap. In a pathetic attempt to make the character seem "cool" and "hip", the film's creators actually have Batty rap about his experiences as a test subject for humans. The end result of this musical mishap is neither “fresh” nor "dope" however, just incredibly sad, kind of like a rapping granny ... but less funny.
Despite how important the subject matter is, I just can't bring myself to recommend FernGully the Last Rainforest. While the film has lots of good intentions, the story is in no way profound, eye-opening or thought provoking. Rather, the movie comes across as a sanctimonious, bleeding-heart piece of propaganda. That said, I must also admit that the things I find offensive about FernGully are not things everyone will take umbrage with. Some people like these types of stories. Heck, James Cameron's Avatar (a movie that was heavily influenced by FernGully) is the highest grossing film in history, despite being the most contrived and derivative environmental film I've seen in the last decade. So I guess the only real advice I can give (keeping in mind that I'm a no nothing cartoon geek) is to be aware of what you like. If you're a fan of Captain Planet and other rah-rah nature films, FernGully is right up your alley. If, however, you do not enjoy one-sided Hollywood features telling you how to feel, it's best to stay away.
