Death of a Unicorn…family movie or no?
I’m sorry, readers. I thought I was strong enough to go see Minecraft this weekend. I thought about it, I really did. Mostly on the strength of Jason Momoa (who was a revelation in Fast X). In the end, I just couldn’t pull the trigger. Jack Black long ago lost any entertainment value for me (Jumanjis aside, since he was second banana to the Rock and that was okay). And I’ve never once played the game of digital building blocks that is Minecraft. I had to pass.
So instead, I chose to go see Death of a Unicorn, starring the always likeable Paul Rudd and the equally always likeable Jenna Ortega. There were other noteable names. Will Poulter is becoming a thing. Tea Leoni is having something of a career resurgence.
The premise is simple and original…Rudd and Ortega accidentally hit and kill a young unicorn while driving through the untamed mountains of the Pacific Northwest (I think). Learning of the mythical creature’s healing powers, Rudd’s big pharma bosses try to swoop in and steal the unicorn for their own selfish purposes.
Jenna Ortega plays Ridley, a typical angsty teen made even more angsty by the death of her mother and the estrangement of her father (Rudd). Ridley fights the greed of the elites and the weakness and complacency of her father, attempting to somehow right their wrongs and avoid the wrath of the unicorn parents, who are ready to throw hooves.
I don’t know if I can agree with her
Mrs Average Dude said this was a ‘family movie’ but I just can’t get on board with that. Yes, there is a tepid redemption arc and yes, there is a young person fighting the good fight. But Ridley never really seems torn by the distant relationship with her father…only resigned and dismissively angry. Nothing really wholesome in the story there. Add to that, some really unnecessarily graphic violence by both the humans and the mythicals that isn’t family friendly at all. Oh, and lots of alcohol and drug usage. The Average Dude will not be showing this to the littles in our family. Nope.
Is this by design? Is this the direction Hollywood is moving?
What really disturbed me the most about Death of a Unicorn was the over-the-top portrayal of the pharmaceutical elites. The insane greed. The total self-righteous justification of that greed. The dehumanization of others deemed ‘less’. The absolute self-absorbtion. Death of a Unicorn is the second movie inside of a month that has those types of performances (looking at you, Mickey 17). In a day and age where the divide between the haves and the have nots is accentuated at every turn, it feels like Hollywood is overplaying it’s hand on this. Maybe that’s just my paranoia talking.
So what’s good?
As I always try to do, I find the good in the not-so-good. In the end, Paul Rudd’s character finds some stones and tells his bosses to stick it (in his Paul Rudd nicest way). The movie gets a happy ending of sorts. The whole thing kind of felt middle of the road…not family entertainment but not horror. I don’t know, it all just seemed very milquetoast and my best guess at a message here is that ‘rich white people are bad’. To be honest, that cliche has been done to death in both movie and reality and your average dude is ready for something different. Death of a Unicorn gets a meh 3 out of 5. Barely acceptable for a Saturday afternoon show. The 2025 drought of movie quality continues, putting a lot of pressure on the upcoming Thunderbolts*. I’m trying not to get my hopes up. But you know me by now. Hope is my thing.
Check out all the Average Dude Movie Reviews and our super cool merch at www.barredlands.com
Follow us on X
Follow and Like us on Facebook
#barredlandsdotcom #AverageDudeMovieReviews #PCLoadletter64 #DeathofaUnicorn #PaulRudd #JennaOrtega