I originally found this movie in the Christian section of the library and checked it out for some relatives when they were younger and they loved it! Sure it's quirky and at times a bit silly by today's standards but it was a good tool to use to discuss morals, consequences of selfishness and other biblical topics with the kids in a way they could understand plus any day you can laugh is a good one. I decided to find it online and send both of them a copy as a memento now that they're older. They were very happy that I did. (Smile)

The 'Voyage of the Unicorn' is the story of the Aisling family - Professor Alan Aisling and his two daughters - the skeptical, bad-tempered Miranda and the dreamy, absent-minded Cassie. The girls weren't always like this though - they were once happy, sweet-natured girls - till their mother dies that is. Now the family live separate lives though they live in the same house - Alan who devotes his time to preaching his 'cresendo vides' (in believing one sees) philosophy at the university, which does not go down well with the Dean; Cassie who looses herself for days in her mother's portfolio and artwork, neglecting school, food and the real world in general; and Miranda, who has lost most of her faith in the human race and leds an unhappy, discontented life. All this is about to change however, when their home is attacked one night by a violent group of trolls, who are out to stop a prophesy concerning the Aisling family from coming true. While Miranda and Mr Aisling attempt to ward them off, Cassie is whisked off by an elf - Sebastian, and a dwarf - Malachi, down to the docks where their ship, The Unicorn waits. Followed closely by Miranda and Professor Aisling, all of them are spirited away to the Landscape of the Imagination on board the magical, beautiful ship which has been specially prepared for them.
It is there that they discover their destiny from King Oberon and Queen Titania on the Isle of Faerie - it has been prophesied that 'a man of learning, and two maidens gentle of spirit' will enter the realm to free the land of the evil scourge of trolls by finding and summoning the great dragon - and at the same time freeing heroes of old.
And so they're off on their journey - with Malachi and Sebastian, who is smitten with Miranda, and on the way they have run-ins with legendary creatures such as a sea serpent, trolls, mermaids, fairies, Medusa, the Sphinx, the Minotaur, ogres, unicorns and more. It is this voyage that the movie excells in - great costumes, set design, special effects, a beautiful soundtrack that includes the song - 'Faith precedes a Miracle', and good acting and story telling. Watch out for my favourite scenes - when Miranda subdues the sea serpent, when Cassie tames the unicorn and when Titania gives each member of the family special gifts, and special advice that only they can hear.
This is a very good movie - it's interesting, bright, colourful, well directed and acted throughout. Traditional creatures such as fairies are given a whole new look and it's a great family movie to all watch together. If you love fantasy and adventure then this movies for you.
However, one fault is that it ended rather abruptedly, and with far too many unanswered questions and loose ends. I wonder if perhaps I watched a cut version of this movie, as when I watched 'The Making of the Voyage of the Unicorn' there was a scene being filmed that featured the Sphinx in the interior of the ship which was definitly not on the movie I watched. I picked up on inconsistencies that - although they don't totally destroy viewing-pleasure - nag in your mind as though you've missed out on something. And cutting bits out of this movie which is about the individual's internal voyage as much as the physical journey is not doing it justice. My queries include -
How did they get home? - they all just seemed to wake up the next day with no real recollections of the entire voyage!
What happened to the Sphinx? - she saves Cassie and then disappears.
Was Lily (the girls' mother) really a 'spiritual guide'? How did she know about the Unicorn and the Landscape of Imagination?
What happened to the disgraced Oberon?
Did Sebastian and Miranda really get together?
Why did Professor Aisling pick up all those rocks from the different islands? - it looked like it would be an evolving story line but nothing came of it.
Too many unanswered questions!!!

This is a movie strictly and exclusively made for kids. Granted that is has a great story plot and theme. Nevertheless, it is not made for adults who are into action-adventure, fantasy, mythology and magic films. The story plot is real good but I could have done without the comedy...I was expecting more serious scenes which leave the viewer at the edge of the seat wanting more. The acting was also good for the most part except from some of the acting which was very what I call "artificial". More special effects and magic could have also helped. I did like the integration of mythological characters as well as creatures of the enchanted forest.

The 'Voyage of the Unicorn' is the story of the Aisling family - Professor Alan Aisling and his two daughters - the skeptical, bad-tempered Miranda and the dreamy, absent-minded Cassie. The girls weren't always like this though - they were once happy, sweet-natured girls - till their mother dies that is. Now the family live separate lives though they live in the same house - Alan who devotes his time to preaching his 'cresendo vides' (in believing one sees) philosophy at the university, which does not go down well with the Dean; Cassie who looses herself for days in her mother's portfolio and artwork, neglecting school, food and the real world in general; and Miranda, who has lost most of her faith in the human race and leds an unhappy, discontented life.

All this is about to change however, when their home is attacked one night by a violent group of trolls, who are out to stop a prophesy concerning the Aisling family from coming true. While Miranda and Mr Aisling attempt to ward them off, Cassie is whisked off by an elf - Sebastian, and a dwarf - Malachi, down to the docks where their ship, The Unicorn waits. Followed closely by Miranda and Professor Aisling, all of them are spirited away to the Landscape of the Imagination on board the magical, beautiful ship which has been specially prepared for them.

It is there that they discover their destiny from King Oberon and Queen Titania on the Isle of Faerie - it has been prophesied that 'a man of learning, and two maidens gentle of spirit' will enter the realm to free the land of the evil scourge of trolls by finding and summoning the great dragon - and at the same time freeing heroes of old.

And so they're off on their journey - with Malachi and Sebastian, who is smitten with Miranda, and on the way they have run-ins with legendary creatures such as a sea serpent, trolls, mermaids, fairies, Medusa, the Sphinx, the Minotaur, ogres, unicorns and more.

It is this voyage that the movie excells in - great costumes, set design, special effects, a beautiful soundtrack that includes the song - 'Faith precedes a Miracle', and good acting and story telling. Watch out for my favourite scenes - when Miranda subdues the sea serpent, when Cassie tames the unicorn and when Titania gives each member of the family special gifts, and special advice that only they can hear.

This is a very good movie - it's interesting, bright, colourful, well directed and acted throughout. Traditional creatures such as fairies are given a whole new look and it's a great family movie to all watch together. If you love fantasy and adventure then this movies for you.

**Spoilers below**

However, one fault is that it ended rather abruptedly, and with far too many unanswered questions and loose ends. My queries include:

How did they get home? - they all just seemed to wake up the next day with no real recollections of the entire voyage!
What happened to the Sphinx? - she saves Cassie and then disappears.
Was Lily (the girls' mother) really a 'spiritual guide'? How did she know about the Unicorn and the Landscape of Imagination?
What happened to the disgraced Oberon?
Did Sebastian and Miranda really get together?
Why did Professor Aisling pick up all those rocks from the different islands? - it looked like it would be an evolving story line but nothing came of it.
Too many unanswered questions!!!

Despite this however, this is a great fantasy in a world of generic and regurgitated "Lord of the Rings" stories - this one stands on its own and is *finally* on DVD!

I absolutely love this movie. My grandfather recorded it from tv when I was little and it was always one of my favorites. When he passed away, the movie somehow went missing. It got here fast. It somehow made me feel like he was with me watching it all over again. Thank you for making this possible and affordable. You are truly amazing people. You will never know my appreciation.
This movie is for the kids and kids at heart. I love watching it with my daughter. She is 3 and LOVES the horses and all the magic.

I started watching this nearly 3 hour film not knowing what to expect. Would it be some generic fantasy adventure with a lot of exploration and a bunch of random encounters, all culminating in a big war scene at the end? That seems to be the formula these days, and I wasn't looking forward to seeing the same formula done again unless it was done with interesting twists.

What I got was a surprisingly different take on the fantasy adventure genre from what I was used to.

"Voyage of the Unicorn" doesn't waste time setting things up. Early in the film, Goblins storm a family's home with the intent to capture them. The father, Alan, and daughters Miranda and Cassie, find a ship in their hometown being piloted by an elf and a drawf, and end up using it to magically escape to same fantasy land - the very same one their pursuers had come from. Before long, they learn that they are heroes foretold of in a prophecy, and it is up to them to prevent the goblins from storming the "real world" and taking it over. The family is naturally not too happy about this, but they're told that even if the prophecy isn't true, they'll have to stop the goblins anyway or risk having to hide from them their entire lives. After all, the goblins believe in the prophecy, and they're not happy about what it means for them.

There are a number of fairly original ideas in this movie. For example, ever notice how often it is that you see a kids' movie where the kids have to save the world without any adult help? Here, however, the father comes along with his daughters and is actively involved all throughout the adventure. Of course, as is to be expected, the kids have their share of moments of heroism, but the family works together throughout the movie, and Alan gets his chance to shine.

The heroes end up encountering several well-known creatures of myth during their journey, such as a sphinx, a minotaur, and Medusa, and actually manage to convert some of them into allies who join them. Even with this small army of now-friendly creatures, the family is not always able to directly fight off most of their threats, and they end up having to deal with them in other ways. There are quite a few moments where they do fight, but mostly they have to sneak around or use trickery on their quest. A family of three plus a handful of mythological creatures do not an army make, and so there's plenty of moments where the heroes need to proceed cautiously or use their wits.

Being a fairly light-hearted story, it does get rather, dare I say, corny at times. Recruiting Medusa, complete with shades designed to prevent her eyes from turning others to stone, into the party is the sort of thing you'd never see in a story that took itself completely seriously. Indeed, there are a number of silly moments and bits of character humor, but there are also moments where the story takes itself completely seriously. The initial encounter with Medusa looked downright nerve-wracking, as Alan, sweating profusely, kept his eyes completely closed and tried not to look at Medusa, while his two daughters, blindfolded, cried their eyes out at their potential fate.

For a low budget, made-for-TV film, the sets and costumes are pretty well designed. The trolls look like what you'd expect them to, Medusa is exceptionally well-done, and all the locations look really nice. I was impressed many times with how everything looked, leaving me to wonder, "this is made for TV?" It may not be heavy on the CGI, but sometimes good old fashioned set building is what works best and is most convincing.

Characterization is pretty good as well for such a light story, but unfortunately, the dialog stumbles at times. We get some platitudes on how important it is to believe (in what exactly? Fairy tales?), and have faith in miracles. This comes out of the kids' mouths sometimes, I might add. Most of the time the dialog is good, but at times it gets a bit stiff, particularly when the film's "message" is being delivered.

Overall, though, I liked "Voyage of the Unicorn". The light mood makes the fantastical proceedings easier to digest, and the story is pretty fun. While some standard fantasy/adventure cliches are used, others are avoided, or handled differently. It's a refreshingly different story, and quite impressive that it was done on a made-for-TV budget.

I saw a trailer for this film on the "Dinotopia" series DVD - but they didn't give the title of the film! I found out by checking Beau Bridges' profile that it was "Voyage of the Unicorn". It was a rollicking good fantasy adventure and involved a few characters from legends past, like the Minotaur and Medusa. I thoroughly enjoyed it as did my 10 year old son and his friends. It is long - about 3 hours - but worth it.

I'm surprised that there are so many 5-star reviews since this movie, while charming, doesn't come anywhere near the 5-star fantasy classics I've seen in the past. A lonely widower (Beau Bridges) and his two young daughters, Miranda and Cassandra, find themselves transported on a magical voyage aboard the "Unicorn". It is during this voyage that they meet many legendary creatures, including Oberon, Titania, and Medusa. The journey proves both a harrowing adventure and enlightening experience as they find both their happiness and the memory of their loved one restored.

Now that I've gotten the main plot out of the way, I'll highlight the parts of the film that succeeded and failed to impress me as a fantasy flick.

The Good:

1) Beau Bridges and the two girls make a winningly charming trio. Bridges is a lovable father while Miranda is a sympathetically shy heroine and spunky Cassandra rather reminds me of an American Hermione Granger.

2) The musical score is for the most part pretty; mystical, though decidedly modern.

3) While the special effects left much to be desired, there are a few good standouts: the unicorn, the trolls, the sea-serpent, and the little fairies.

The Bad:

1) While there were some good special effects, some of the costuming was simply awful. For example, while the little fairies were gorgeous and awesome, the big ones were ridiculous. This film's version of Titania, for example, is simply the worst I've ever seen. Sure, not all fairies are supposed to be beautiful, but Titania certainly is! Instead, she looks like a human-preying water fairy, and this is certainly NOT how she's supposed to be portrayed. There was also a creature the film had the nerve to call a dryad. Um, no. If an elf and a mime had a child, this creature would be their offspring, but a dryad it is not. The two worst costumed characters were Medusa and the sphinx. I know Medusa's supposed to be beautiful, but who the heck decided to make her an overly exotic Indian goddess?? With her heavily made-up eyes and gigantic pursed lips, she irritated me so much I could hardly stand looking at her! The sphinx, for me, was the most bitter disappointment. Guess what, people? Putting a woman with springy hair and lionine eye-makeup into fuzzy pants does NOT make a sphinx! Put Medusa and the sphinx together, and you've got what looks like two very bad imitations of pop-stars; I half expected the two to break into "Survivor". I'm not sure what kind of joke the Emmy committee was playing by nominating this movie for costuming, but it wasn't a funny one.

2) The movie's tone often alternates between partly serious and totally silly, and I have a very low tolerance for excess silliness. It was this tone that often made it hard for me to take the movie seriously and grated on my nerves. I have mixed feelings about the famed scene in which Miranda dances for the sea-serpent; her dance is totally gorgeous and hypnotic, but the voice singing in the background starts warbling and I had to mute it. (Really singers, STOP doing this. It sounds pathetic, I assure you)

I also found it unnecessary for the film to imply that Titania hypnoticed Miranda in order for her to dance, especially after she told her she didn't need any magical help! This scene is so beautiful; why ruin it by turning Miranda into a puppet? This took away from the scene and only made me dislike Titania more. Besides, the camera focused so long on the sight of Miranda's eyelashes fluttering on the whites of her eyes that I wanted to smack her in order to make her eyes roll back into place. (By the way, there is no mermaid in this film; only the puppet caricature of one, so don't be disappointed like I was).

All in all, this is a 3-star movie. There are some bad special effects and too much silliness, but the good special effects and overall charm save it from being a bad film.