FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)

The magical inhabitants of a rainforest fight to save their home, which is threatened by logging and a polluting force of destruction called Hexxus.

Director:

Bill Kroyer

Writers:

Jim Cox (screenplay), Diana Young (original stories)

Stars:

Samantha Mathis, Christian Slater, Robin Williams

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tim Curry	...	Hexxus (voice)
Samantha Mathis	...	Crysta (voice)
Christian Slater	...	Pips (voice)
Jonathan Ward	...	Zak (voice)
Robin Williams	...	Batty Koda (voice)
Grace Zabriskie	...	Magi Lune (voice)
Geoffrey Blake	...	Ralph (voice)
Robert Pastorelli	...	Tony (voice)
Cheech Marin	...	Stump (voice)
Tommy Chong	...	Root (voice)
Tone Loc	...	Goanna (voice) (as Tone-Loc)
Townsend Coleman	...	Knotty (voice)
Brian Cummings	...	Ock (voice)
Kathleen Freeman	...	Elder #1 (voice)
Janet Gilmore	...	Fairy #1 (voice)

Storyline

The fairies live in a peaceful place in the forest called FernGully, which has been protected for many years by Magi Lune (Grace Zabriskie), a wise fairy with strong powers. Her granddaughter Crysta (Samantha Mathis) is a charming, beautiful fairy that is very intrigued about the world outside of FernGully. She, along with the other fairies in the forest, does not believe humans exist, and are only in stories, until a crazy bat by the name of Batty Koda (Robin Williams), comes and tells them all of these crazy stories about how he was captured by humans and experimented on. At first, no one believes him except Crysta, and she is determined to find out if humans are real. She goes to a place called Mount Warning, where the evil shadow of destruction, Hexxus (Tim Curry), is known to be trapped, and finds a human named Zak (Jonathan Ward). When he is almost crushed by a tree, Crysta accidentally shrinks him to fairy-size and he falls on a tree that is about to be devoured by "The ...

---

Plot Keywords:

human nonhuman relationship | human | fairy | forest | tree | 

---

Taglines:

They live in a secret world touched by magic and surrounded by nature, and the only human who has ever been there, must now fight to save it.

---

Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

---

Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original lyrics to the movie's song "Toxic Love", performed by Tim Curry, had obvious sexual themes/implications, and various verses from the original song were cut and or re-written to make the song more appropriate for a family movie. The original lyrics can still be found, but the song's full version was never used.

---

Goofs

In Zak's wallet his height is given in feet. Australia uses the metric system.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Magi Lune: [opening narration] Our world was much larger then. The forest went on forever. We tree spirits nurtured the harmony of all living things, but our closest friends were humans. Then, as sometimes happens, the balance of nature shifted. Hexxus, the very spirit of destruction rose up from the bowels of the earth, and rained down his poison. The forest was nearly destroyed, many lives were lost and the humans fled in fear, never to return. Most believe they did not survive. It was only ...

---

Crazy Credits

The credits begin with the dedication, "For our children and our children's children."

---

Connections

Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Underrated Animated Movies (2017)

---

Soundtracks

Tri Jetrve
Traditional
Performed by Zbor i orkestar KUD "Joza Vlahovic", Zagreb

User Reviews

A little dated but still has charm

I hate getting a film you loved as a child and watching it as an adult only to find it's completely lost it's magic over time. Having pushed all my videos to the back of a dark cupboard, I hadn't actually watched the film in years until I bought it last week on DVD.

Ferngully has it's problems, some of the songs were written with the days music heavily in the forefront so they haven't really stood the test of time. The overall message of taking care of the environment will seem heavy handed to an adult, although I remember feeling inspired by it as a child.

That aside I cannot vault the voice acting, Tim Curry, Robin Williams, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, they all deliver great performances. The animation is terrific and looks very much like Disney movies of the time. The stories hero's are compelling to watch, you really do care about what happens to them as it progresses to the climax, all this is woven together with touching little moments in the animation and a clever and funny set of supporting characters.

Will children today enjoy it? I'd say let them watch it, everyone has their own tastes and preferences and it's no different with children. They'll either like it or they won't.

I'm not sure if an adult who missed it as a child will enjoy it, again I think it depends on the person, but if this was a part of your childhood, it might be worth seeing it again I think it still definitely has a place in my heart.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

FernGully: The Last Rainforest

Filming Locations:

Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$24,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,549,338, 12 April 1992

Gross USA:

$24,650,296

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$32,710,894

Company Credits

Production Co:

FAI Films, Kroyer Films, Youngheart Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1