User Reviews

Some good eye candies are ruined in this movie by the most outrageous comments I've heard in a children's movie. "When it comes to magic, don't ask too many questions" came out of one child's mouth. The writer's obviously no fan of William Drummond ("He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave"). Or how about some Socrates ("There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance").

"Faith precedes miracles" is another gem from the child. But when faith doesn't work, it's fate, or God's will, or a test, or, uh, mysterious ways.

The film also sets up from the start a false dichotomy about reality and magic. That, of course, implies a god of the gaps, and in any case, as Friedrich Nietzsche pointed out, "a casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."

The funniest thing, though, is that the dad let slip that "snakes are common in mythology." Then the child devalues the library.

Then the dad attempts magic and the daughter an Indian dance. The story ends with the girl saying, "By believing one sees." That's all the evidence anyone has of faith: they must first delude themselves.

I don't like films that are overly preachy. A lot of religious films tend to preach to the point of being redundant. Thankfully this is not one. Voyage of the Unicorn had me caught up in the adventure, so much, that I did not realize it was trying to convey a message about having faith. It was there from the beginning but not to the point of knocking my head with it.

The Aisling family has to escape trolls by traveling to another universe. The lose of the Aisling matriarch is still very upsetting to them. This adventure serves as an awakening to a new start. The family grows stronger through having faith.

This could be a completely misguided assessment. It just seems like this is what was done. This movie isn't perfect, with several odd moments, but it will suffice for a presumably low budget fantasy film. As a bonus the music score and selections are nice fit for this film.

I first saw this movie when I was a teen. This week I decided to give it a second go and review it.

A professor with a positive message is coping with the loss of his wife along with his two daughters. Suddenly they are transported into another fantasy realm on a magical ship where they have to fullfill this magical prophecy.

The props are well done for it's time and budget and especially the trolls and their war vessel are impressive. Only let down is that the (real) lower teeth of the main bad guy troll are clearly visible when he speaks. The ship is also well made, although I find the ship's role and the whole nautical voyage to be a given too little time in the movie, just like the Dawn Treader in Narnia, but hey, that's just me speaking a former seaman.

Unfortunately, there is also plenty of cheese. The glasses of Medusa for example, the fights where Malachi jumps around doing backflips that add nothing at all. Also the main characters are sometimes incredibly dumb. Why did Cassie walk into the Minotaurs lair on her won like that ? Why didn't Medusa use her ability to turn their enemies into stone ? Oh well, maybe I shouldn't overanalyze a TV fantasy film for kids.

So yeah, if you liked The voyage of the Dawn Treader you will enjoy this, but don't expect a hight budget movie for adults.

I recently saw this when it premiered on Odyssey for two nights, and I have also been anxious to see it when I heard about it back in April of 2000.

Voyage of the Unicorn is originally based on the novel "Voyage of the Basset" by James C. Christensen and tells the story of Professor Alan Aisling (Beau Bridges) and his two daughters Cassie (Chantal Conlin) and Miranda (Heather McEwen), trying to overcome the death of their mother. They soon embark a mystical journey on the majestic ship called the Unicorn, assisted by two dwarfs (pardon me, one is an elf named Sebastian, played by extremely cute Kristian Ayre - I am a huge fan of his!!) with one named Malachi. They encounter different creatures such as the Minotaur and Medusa, and all trying to save the King and Queen of the Faeries from the evil troll Skotos.

This is a delight to watch full of adventure, fantasy, romance, and lots of family enjoyment. I really liked it and it will certainly bring a new meaning out the saying "Seeing is believing." And Sebastian is adorable too... as he always is.

Worst kind of family film. Although the make up department must certainly have sweated their pants out, the total outcome is outright ugliness.

First of all, the story is very uninteresting and uninspiredly written; they try to blend a number of different and unrelated mythical stories and come up with a moronic hotchpotch that's really an insult to intelligence. It all looks like nobody cared to write a descent script and it seems as if every single scene is improvised from scratch without any rehearsal what so ever.

The characters are utterly predictable and fail miserably in creating a personality. Their overdone goodness and badness gives me the creeps. Beau Bridges is the scariest of all. A family film monster if you ask me.

Voyage of the Unicorn is a mini-series which premiered on Odyssey Channel 3/2/01 & 3/3/01. It involved a lot of the same producing staff as another great mini-series 10th Kingdom. The plot development is fast but easy to understand. The scenery is beautiful. The general plot is a mythology professor (Beau Bridges) and his 2 daughters get whisked away into a fantasyland where they discover they must save the fairyland from the dreaded and terribly evil trolls. They have a great adventure and meet loads of interesting characters on the way to saving the fairyland. The film is a great story for all ages. If you liked 10th Kingdom, you'll like this story too

This is no children's only movie, this is a movie for everyone, action, adventure, even a little light romance. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, Vancouver, B.C. has everything! Costuming and makeup was superbly done - kudos to that crew for attention to detail!! (They deserve their Emmy nomination and to win).

The story well told, the characters well developed, beautiful scenery, astounding brilliance all around. I've watched it at least 8 times now and never tire of it, in fact I find myself noticing new things each time. Applause to the entire cast and crew!

Although Beau Bridges is getting a little long in the tooth to play the father of teenagers, much less a swashbuckler, he once again provided us with good entertainment. Thank you Beau. The rest of the cast was up to the job as well. Some,(but not all) of the makeup was a little mask-like, but the overall effect was pretty good. The only low point was a sequence involving the older daughter which looked like a music video produced by a seventh grade drama class. Fortunately it didn't last long enough to make me go for the remote. All in all it is a good watch and a lot of good clean family entertainment. A few parts may be a little scary for the younger kids (Tho I've seen seven year olds play video games that scare ME) but if you explain to them ahead of time that its only a fairy tale they should be o.k.. Its well worth watching. I'll give it a score of eight.

this is one of my favorite films ever because the story is so amazing. the acting is really good and its just wonderful! i was so blown away by the set and the props. it really was like a whole other world came to life. I was really glad that this film wasn't like the other films where the characters go to another world. It wasn't like narnia at all. i find that lots of films that deal with traveling to another dimension and all fairly similar. this film was very different! it also wasn't like lord of the rings either. lots of fantasy stories follow the same ideas and principals. This one was different and really good. I love the way the actors worked together. They had a lot of chemistry. that is really important to any play, movie, skit, ext. that was really cool to see on screen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of years ago, I got a book from my parents call "Voyage of the Basset", which I fell in love with completely (as I'm a huge fan of mythology). Then, last summer, I came across this movie on my TiVO listing and decided to record it, recognizing it immediately as being based off one of my all-time favorite books. However, I was soon disappointed.

The original story takes place back in the 19th century, when a professor is fired for teaching mythology and preaching the use of imagination. Then, he and his two daughters board the Basset, which is run by multiple dwarfs (in the movie, there are only two). Many elements are still the same (including the minotaur and Medusa joining the voyage, though the sphinx joins early on as well, and

so does a manticore). Also, the plotline with Oberon and Titania is really bizarre and has nothing to do with the original story.

Overall, the movie isn't half bad, but if you're expecting it to be just like the story, it's really a waste of time and rather annoying.

The people in this move did a very good job. I especially liked Sebastian and Miranda. Kristian Ayre and Heather McEwen did very good acting jobs. The plot to the story was very good also. I think the only problem with it is if you look carefully at the last part of the battle when the last shot is fired. Either there's a big problem, or there's a sequel planned.

I realy like this film. Not that it's just a wondurf-made fairytale, but it's retelling about human feelings and emotions. Who can safe the world?? What make u happy? These are the questions this film is searching answers for. And actually it did, found them:)))) Of course we are the only persons who can help the world and ourselves by remembering what it is to be a child. And of remembering how could we dream even with eyes wide open:)))))))

It's great to see a fun, entertaining fantasy story with a positive message of faith and hope. There are many kinds of faith shown in this movie, such as faith in one's self, faith in a higher power, and faith in the goodness of others. Our heroes show a willingness to help others and lift even their enemies to a better way of life.

The sets and costumes didn't quite reach the artistic standard of James Christiansen's beautiful artwork, but they certainly tried. The music and dance elements are nicely done, and the girls' kindness and purity are positively represented. Christiansen's Mormon heritage shows through in the message that "Faith precedes the miracle". Imagination and mythology are used as metaphors for spiritual things, and I loved the message about life after death.

I just saw this again on cable and was blown away by it. Amazing fantasy show - my only question was - where was this show when it was originally broadcast? This was a beautiful movie. The shots and settings looked like another world. I loved the trolls and the dragons and the magic ship. It's hard to find good fantasy shows without someone getting killed all the time. I watched this with my whole family. I loved the two girls and how for once girls were the heroes, of course their dad played by Beau Bridges did a great job too. I just wish I could rent this somewhere instead of taping it or having to buy it on Amazon or wherever.

Good old-school fantasy. Reminiscent of 80s era movies.

I was really suprised by the high ratings, i said: wow! these people are out of their minds. It looks like a bad bad nightmare. Pardon me, it looks and feels like a bad acid trip you are having with your friends. I mean i kinda liked it though. Bizarre stuff Weird mood, it puts you into a disconnected from reality state mindset. I wonder what these people had in their mind when they made this. Maybe i will change my mind later.

I watched this movie only twice in my life 3 times now) and I think I never watched it completely only after my 3rd watch. I have some nostalgia for this. It sure is a fun 3 hour ride. The costumes of the monsters look damn good for the most part. CGI has been left out for the most part, thanks god cuz what little CGI they used has aged horrible but as someone who doesn't care about graphics in video games I couldn't care any less about this to be honest.

The acting is kinda weird and a bit cheesy over the top sometimes. That first scene with the Minotaur pretty much looks like if Dad and kid would play "I'm an evil monster, you got to run away from me." Medusa is also in this and she is damn hot. To bad she was never able to use her powers on the bad guys. The main protagonist and his two daughters are also likeable and I that quote where the main he said "You only need one friend" kinda sticked to me to this day. The dwarf and elf are also alright characters. The bad guys are goofy fun. The main troll may look intiminating and again kudos to the costume designer but he sure is unintentionally funny sometimes.

This movie was clearly meant for kids unlike something like Lord of the Rings but its still something you can of course enjoy as an adult. Some more deaths and blood would make this movie more authentic though. There is a scene involving a sea creature that was kinda weird and nonsensical because it for the most part looks like something from an 90's MTV music video. At the end its an entertaining and interesting story though.

8/10 Dragon Skulls.