DEATH OF A UNICORN

 Not nearly insane, wild, weird or surreal enough. It’s occasionally funny, and the last 30-40 minutes are entertaining enough. Props to the filmmakers for getting the Unicorn lore down pretty close to perfect (The Unicorns are handled like a mixture of the T-Rex and Raptors from Jurassic Park, NOT Jurassic World and 'The Unicorn Tapestries' play a large role in the movie). 

Will Poulter is easily the best thing about this film (no surprise). His comedic timing is consistently on-point, and most of the laughs come from him. The rest of the cast is fairly stacked, and everyone is trying, but their combined efforts amount to very little. Paul Rudd is at his most nerdy and possibly most unlikable as an asshole father who wants to be a good dad, but the dollar signs in his eyes keep getting in the way. His development near the end is sweet, but it feels a bit too little-too late. 

Jenna Ortega is fine, but is given little to do except flail around in frustration as everyone continually shoves her to the side and refuses to listen to her very good advice. Richard E. Grant is completely wasted. Anthony Carrigan leaves somewhat of an impression as Griff, the butler. He has more of a character than you might expect. 

There is a lot of CGI, and most of it’s just not good. There are a few animatronics used for the Unicorns, albeit rarely. The score is surprisingly one of the best things about this movie (It’s very synth-y).  There are some things to recommend about Death of a Unicorn, but ultimately not nearly enough. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s bad, it’s just alright. If you want to watch this film, wait for VoD.

2.5 STARS