FernGully The Last Rainforest

By Diana Olson

History

FernGully: The Last Rainforest was directed by Bill Kroyer and is based on the book by Diana Young. This Australian- American animated film came out in 1992.

Bill Kroyer was the head of Hyperion Films, a California animation company. The company had experience in advertising so the idea of tackling an entire film was exciting & new.

History continued

• The animation was done in varies studios which consisted of simple ink and paint, the more complex animations were done on a computer, then printed out inked and painted. The production time was reduced greatly thanks to computer animation.

• In 1998 a sequel was released called FernGully 2 : The Magical Rescue

Intro to the Film

• Crysta is a curious fairy girl who sees a part of the world she has never been to before. Crysta see’s the destruction being done to what’s beyond FernGully and realizes that Crysta and the fairy people must fight to save their home that is threatened by logging done by humans and a polluting force of destruction called Hexxus who was presumed dead after he was defeated by fairies and imprisoned in a tree.

• The movie is based on the book by Diana Young. All throughout the film there are strong environmental themes.

Themes• There were various themes throughout the

film. The most prominent one is the significance of the environment. The core message is that as humans we should strive to live in harmony with nature and respect the balance that should exist.

• Another point in the film is the importance of every person working together in order to stop the evil from destroying the rest of the forest. Another key element is the importance to take action.

• For example in one of the final scenes Crystal races in order to try to defeat the Hexxus . As soon as one of the fairies realizes that she’s making an impact he flies in to help and calls onto the other fairies to help. This shows that as soon as a person takes action others will follow and once everyone follows the change can be groundbreaking.

• The film does an excellent job poking fun of our ignorance to the environment while still maintaining the charm and wit of a Disney movie.

Themes• While viewing the film I

compared the invasion in Ferngully with what the Native Americans and Middle Eastern Countries have had to endure.

• After watching the film I also noticed that Avatar had a lot of the similar themes and was pretty much the same concept.

• I also thought that the movie also hinted that if we continue on the path that were on we as a whole will burn in flames and evil will rise.

Characters

• Jonathan Ward as Zak Young is the leading male in the film, he accidentally get’s shrunken down and witnesses the harm cutting down the trees are causing the forest so he goes back to try and emphasize environmental issues. Zak’s character symbolizes that it’s never too late to change.

• Samantha Mathis as Crysta is the main fairy in the movie that is to take after her mothers place as the wise spirit of the forest. Her character represents hope and her character brings light to the dark situation.

• Tim Curry as Hexxus is the spirit of destruction and

also the villain in the movie he wants to destroy FernGully. This character represents the evil and

destruction that humans have on the environment.

• Robin Williams as Batty Koda is the bat in the film; he befriends Crysta and definitely provides the

comic relief to the film. I enjoyed how he picked on

humans, which was a great way to show us how bizarre we can be.

• Grace Zabriskie as Magi Lune is the mother if

Crysta and the wise spirit of the forest trying to

teach her daughter to take her place.

Conclusion

 • This film was released in 1992 & the message was strictly to improve the environment

and reconnect with nature. It’s 2011 and sadly I don’t think we’ve made much progress. There is still so much to be done and not enough action or interest in

everyone to make a massive change. Portland is a great example to what the rest of America should be doing in order to help our environment. The film isn’t necessary pushing huge change it would make a difference to just plant more trees and plants. Growth comes with just one seed and I think that was the key message it just takes

one move and change can happen.

• The movie ends with the dedication, “For our children and our children’s children.” This dedication was put there to emphasize the environmental theme and how we as

people need to not only educate ourselves but also our children to someday teach there children about how we need to protect the environment we live in. This message

was important in 1992 and it continues to be in 2011 when will we start listening?