THELMA THE UNICORN - Mark Reviews Movies

Thelma the Unicorn, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 17, 2024

Thelma the Unicorn is very much a fable at its core, teaching assorted lessons about being yourself and the perils of selling one's soul for things as passing as fame and celebrity. It's an animated movie, which obviously doesn't mean the project is inherently intended only for kids, but at times, it certainly seems as if the filmmakers are under the impression that such is the case. Where does that leave the rest of us?

Well, everyone above a certain age gets the same deal: a broadly cheery story, featuring colorful and eccentric characters, that plays everything entirely safe. That's understandable as movie exclusively aimed at children, but co-director Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess' screenplay clearly has more, well, grown-up ideas it wants to explore, too. They're left little room within the bright tone and simplistic storytelling of this movie.

The thrust of the tale sees Thelma (voiced by Brittany Howard in the professional singer's boisterous acting debut), an ordinary pony, dreaming of becoming a successful rock-and-roll lead singer with her barnyard band. An unlikely chance for fame arrives after Thelma curiously sticks a carrot on her forehead with mud, only for a passing truck, carrying paint and glitter and with an egregiously terrible driver, to spill its load on the horse. With a pink coat and lots of sparkles, Thelma looks distinctly like a unicorn, and sure enough, people immediately start lining up to catch a glimpse of, ask questions to, and get photos with a mystical, magical creature.

Yes, humans and animals communicate and live side-by-side in this world, which raises some questions about the ethical nature of the sort of farm where Thelma and her two bandmates, donkey Otis (voice of Will Forte) and a llama who thinks he's donkey named Reggie (voice of Jon Heder), live and work. It's probably better not to ponder such things or, for that matter, why a narwhal named Niki (voice of Ally Dixon) is the biggest pop star in the world at the moment. Beyond the questionable appeal of a singing whale for a human audience, are the fish that make up Niki's diet also sentient, with hopes and ambitions of their own? The whole thing has a kind of cartoon logic that works well enough for a story that's mostly about easy messages and even easier gags.

On another level, that's the issue here, though, because the movie hints at having more going for it than those elements. The basic plot is a rise-to-fame tale, because Thelma, who isn't even allowed a chance to audition with the band for a big music festival in an early scene, becomes an online viral sensation. That draws the attention of Vic Diamond (voice of Jemaine Clement), a big-time talent agent who decides that Niki, his biggest client right now, is nothing compared to the record-selling potential of a legitimate unicorn.

Vic's the kind of slimy industry guy who lies, betrays, and will do pretty much anything for even a taste of success and stardom. A character like this is a fine villain, firing missiles at the limo driving Thelma's band so the star-in-the-making can perform solo, but by his very existence, Vic represents more than that. He's a phony (even wearing fake awful teeth to better fit a certain stereotype), a fraud, and a cutthroat player, and the screenplay comes tantalizingly close to actually doing something with him that could elevate the material into the realm of satire.

Sure, it's also simple, predictable stuff, but when Vic introduces Thelma to his headquarters, there's a certain bite to the place. One room creates lyrics via an AI algorithm, and another is dedicated entirely to autotune. Even the name of his company, Big Sellout Records (because, by his thinking, all of his productions become hits), suggests more pointed comedy than anything else in the movie, which mostly consists of innocently silly stuff and generically quirky characters. Vic's a devious-enough creation that he might have carried a wholly satirical bent to the story, but instead, he just becomes a goofy villain, offering Thelma everything she wants and taking away everything she actually is.

There's a better, funnier, and more age-inclusive story to be told here, in other words. If the filmmakers (Lynn Wang, who has worked on various animation projects for more than a decade, is the other co-director) seem too timid or uncertain to really dive into that territory, the movie we do get, admittedly, is decent. It possesses a sense of style. The animation is smooth, and the character designs are diverse but have a unified look. Meanwhile, the vocal cast is solid, with a couple of smart cameos (Zach Galifianakis voices the reckless driver, who has an odd dream of his own). As a musical, the songs are catchy or, when Vic explains his three rules to fame (that don't even follow the rules he has established for them), amusing.

The story, though, is entirely formulaic from top to bottom, beginning to end, and inside and out. The target audience of Thelma the Unicorn won't mind, obviously, because the characters are charming, the music is a nice in-the-moment distraction, and it's lesson about being yourself is wholly digestible at any age. What's missing from this fable, though, is some real flavor to its world, its characters, and how the story gets at that central message.

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