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, a wise fairy with strong powers. Her granddaughter Crysta is a charming, beautiful fairy that is very intrigued about the world outside of FernGully. She along with the other fairies in the forest do not believe humans exist and are only in stories, until a crazy bat by the name of Batty, comes and tells them all 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 is known to be trapped, and finds a human named Zak. 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 Leveller". "The Leveller" is a wood cutting machine that has been cutting down every tree the humans have been ...

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Plot Keywords:

human | fairy | forest | tree | destruction | 

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Taglines:

"Do you believe in humans?"

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Thriller

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

As Aventuras de Zak e Crysta na Floresta Tropical

Box Office

Budget:

$24,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

AUD 4,462 (Australia), 29 August 1992

Gross USA:

$24,650,296

Company Credits

Production Co:

FAI Films,Interscope Communications,Kroyer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christian Slater had briefly dated Samantha Mathis.

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Goofs

After Zak tries to carve Crysta's name into the tree, he never puts his knife away while pushing the leaf-boat.

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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 ...

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks to The United States Postal Service for their efforts to raise environmental awareness.

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Connections

Referenced in Nostalgia Critic: It (2017) (2017)

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Soundtracks

If I'm Goanna Eat Somebody (It Might As Well Be You)
Written by Jimmy Buffett and Mike Utley
Performed by Tone Loc

User Reviews

Overall, an entertaining animated film - with its ups and downs of course...

It may have a strong message, it may have slightly wobbly animation and it may not be your thing. Like it or loathe it, this film is "Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest".

The ups are good humour from the one and only Robin Williams (who is a bat and sings a brilliant rap song), good thoughts about the environment (as in the way it is in this film), the setting (an Australian jungle - you would think if it was about fairies it would be set in Britain - wouldn't you?), good background animation (mainly jungle and trees), good songs (a mixture, including the beautiful and the not-so-beautiful) and a good message (to be good to the environment).

The downs/flaws is the fact the main character is annoying (yet for some reason everybody likes her) and the film also drags on slightly. Another flaw is the fact that for one half of the film, everything is pretty cool, chilled and like a fun, normal kid's film, then in the second half of the film the tension becomes very heavy and suddenly everything is so precious and beautiful. Both phases of the film are good of course, but the change is too quick and too noticeable. It is like having balanced meals for a week and then suddenly the next week you are scoffing cakes like there is no tomorrow.

The plot is: Most of the characters are fairies and they live in the Australian rainforest. They are very kind to the environment and help things grow. Most of the fairies believe that humans do not exist, but when a bat who has been experimented in a lab tells the fairies of humans, there is one called Crysta (a girl fairy) who wants to see the humans for herself...

Good for children, mainly, who do not care much about the environment, but also for people who like Robin Williams and animation in general. Enjoy "Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest"! :-)