Introduction

Unicorn Wars is a 2022 Spanish-French adult animated splatter war film written and directed by Alberto Vázquez. The plot is set against the backdrop of a conflict between anthropomorphised teddy bears and unicorns, following two bear siblings deployed in a military mission to a magical forest populated by wild unicorns.

Outline

In a magical forest, unicorns lived alongside wild animals, but the bears found a sacred book of knowledge in the ruins of a church. The book enabled the bears to gain sentience and form their own civilisation. Over time, the bears physically evolved to a multi-coloured “teddy bear” form. According to their beliefs, the bears wanted to cultivate the forest, but the unicorns opposed them. In reality due to the bears’ deforestation the unicorns decided to retaliate causing the bears to be exiled from the forest. This led to a war between bears and unicorns, which the bears believe will be over when their “chosen one” drinks the blood of the last unicorn, and a god-like being will return to the forest.

Drill Sergeant Caricias trains a new troop of recruits that includes brothers Gordi and Azulín. A priest instils a religious doctrine of hatred for unicorns in the troops. Azulín pretends to protect Gordi, and aspires to be the best recruit, hoping to become the Chosen One someday. But he grows resentful of the troop’s top recruit, Coco. He has also felt jealous of his brother since their birth when Gordi came out first, gaining the favour of their mother. When their mother left their father for another man, Azulín’s jealousy grew so vicious that he poured poison into his mother’s lemonade, killing her.

The camp’s leaders send the troops to the forest to find a missing squad, with Caricias and the Priest leading. In the forest, they find glowworms that they consider eating. The Priest warns that the scripture says not to eat them, but Caricias angrily defies the warning. The glowworms turn out to be hallucinogenic, and the troops see frightening hallucinations that cost the lives of two recruits. Later on, they find the mutilated remains of the squad members. Sergeant Caricias goes insane as a result. Soon after, they stumble upon one lone unicorn and kill her. But other unicorns appear and fight the recruits, leaving only Azulín, Gordi and Coco alive. Azulín’s rage against Coco explodes, and he kills the wounded Coco and even cannibalises his corpse.

The brothers find two other unicorns. Azulín badly wounds one of them, a filly named María. In trying to kill her, Azulín gets impaled by the other unicorn, Laura, sending him into a river, severely disfiguring the right side of his face in the fall. The river sweeps Azulín away, where another troop: Corporal Pompon, Private Peludito, and Private Grimaldo find him. While Azulín recuperates in the hospital, the military leaders Colonel Otto, Commander Fluffy, and Captain Snout appear before Azulín. They promote him to Lieutenant, and present him as a hero to inspire the soldiers. He is also provided with a mask to cover the disfigured half of his face. Back at the forest, Gordi takes pity on María and nurses her back to health. Before the fight, María had stumbled upon the church and found the building now occupied by simians.

Azulín grows so popular among the soldiers that he leads a coup, killing the military leaders. He then organises the bear army for one final massive assault to raze the forest. The unicorns then all unite to confront the bears. In the brutal final battle, all bears die except for the two brothers, and all unicorns die except for María. Azulín and Gordi reunite. But when Azulín sees Gordi helping María, his rage boils over and he kills both Gordi and María. He drinks María’s blood to finally fulfill the prophecy. But María’s body morphs into a formless monster that consumes Gordi’s body and also Azulín. At last, the monster morphs into the god-like creature foretold, a human being. The human leads the simians as the new rulers of the world.

Cast

Names in parentheses are the English-version names if they differ from the originals.

• Jon Goiri as Azulín (“Bluey”)
• Jaione Insausti as Gordi (“Tubby”)
• Ramón Barea as Narrator / Rafael
• Txema Regalado as Padre (“Father”)
• Maribel Legarreta as Judith / Young Azulín
• Itxaso Quintana as María
• Manu Heras as Drill Sergeant Caricias (“Ironstroke”) / Papá
• Gaizka Soria as Coco
• Kepa Cueto [eu] as Colonel Otto
• Juan Carlos Loriz as Commander Fluffy
• Estívaliz Lizárraga as Pandi / Coco’s Wife
• Iker Diaz as Achuchones (“Snuggles”)
• Pedro Arrieta as Blackie
• Alberto Vázquez as Sonrisas (“Smiley”)

Production

Alberto Vázquez declared to have three main inspirations when writing: Apocalypse Now, Bambi and the Bible. The project was showcased in a ‘Work in Progress’ panel of the 45th Annecy International Animation Film Festival. A Spanish-French co-production by Abano Producións SL, Uniko Estudio Creativo S.L., Unicorn Wars AIE, Autour de Minuit, Productions SARL, and Schmuby Productions SAS, the film received funding from Eurimages.

Release

The film was presented at the 46th Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 16 June 2022, as part of the festival’s official competition. It made its US premiere at the Fantastic Fest. Distributed by Barton Films, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 21 October 2022. Charades handled the sales elsewhere. It was released in French theatres on 28 December 2022 by UFO Distribution. The film received a limited theatrical release in North America on 10 March 2023.

Trivia

• Director Alberto Vázquez describes the film as “Bambi meets Apocalypse Now meets the Bible.”
• The film won Best Animated Film at the 37th Goya Awards.
• It was also nominated for Best Animated Film at the 10th Platino Awards.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Alberto Vázquez
• Producer(s):
  • Chelo Loureiro … executive producer / producer
  • Iván Miñambres … executive producer / producer
  • Nicolas Schmerkin … executive producer
• Writer(s):
  • Alberto Vázquez
• Music:
  • Joseba Beristain
• Cinematography:
  • Estanis Bañuelos
• Editor(s):
• Production:
  • UniKo
  • Abano Producions (co-production)
  • Autour de Minuit Productions (co-production)
  • Schmuby Productions (co-production)
  • ADV Studios (executive production)
  • Gobierno de España
  • Movistar
  • Radio Televisión Española (RTVE)
  • Unicorn Wars
• Distributor(s):
  • Barton Films (Spain, 2022)(theatrical)
  • GKIDS (United States, 2023)(theatrical)
  • Periscoop Film (Netherlands, 2023)(theatrical)
  • UFO Distribution (France, 2022)(theatrical)
  • Adult Swim (United States, 2023)(TV)
  • BBC America (United States, 2023)(TV)
  • D.E.P. Games (United States, 2022)(video game)
  • GKIDS (United States, 2022)
  • Horror Channel (United Kingdom, 2023)(TV)
  • TBC (United States, 2023)(TV)
  • ToonWorks Detour (United States, 2023)(TV)
• Release Date: 15 June 2022 (Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France).
• Running Time: 92 minutes.
• Rating: 15.
• Country: Spain.
• Language: Spanish.

Video Link(s)