A wild, goofy, and dysfunctional trip through a blazing desert from Canadian director Nick Johnson, Sunburnt Unicorn is anything but a traditional animation narrative. After a car accident that happens in the background of the opening credits, the film introduces us to Frankie (Diana Kaarina’s voice). He’s a teenager with a lightning bolt-like piece of metal debris on his forehead, pointy end out. Looking for his father, Frankie encounters a tortoise (Kathleen Barr) who they ran over which caused the accident. Tortoise informs Frankie that his father has been taken by the Cactus King (Brian Drummond), who sets him out on a trek across the barren desert as his already burnt skin continues to bake in the sun.
Frankie is the definition of an unreliable narrator here as his travels have him encounter and interact with a family of disturbed wolves with a disturbing secret, a spectre that resides over a mysterious oasis, and an ultimate showdown versus a shadowy Cactus King. All the while these creatures refer to him as the unicorn of an ancient prophecy. But the blazing sun and obvious heatstroke call into question everything that the audience sees. It’s a very adult feeling setup for an animated film that feels much less targeted towards smaller kids than it is towards teens and adults.
The animation is solid, but not the most realism-based style, and that works fine for this story. The biggest issue withSunburnt Unicorn is that even at an 80 minute runtime, it feels long and too drawn out. I can’t help but feel there is a stellar 60 minute version of this film in the ether. As it is,Sunburnt Unicorn still has enough going for it to give a basic recommendation.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Animation, Fantasy
- Release Date: 8/3/2024
- Directed by: Nick Johnson
- Starring: Brian Drummond, Diana Kaarina, Kathleen Barr, Laara Sadiq, Tabitha St. Germain
- Produced by: Colin Curwen, Nick Johnson, Patrick Wilding
- Written by: Nick Johnson
- Studio: New Machine Studios
