171. FernGully: The Last Rainforest

They thought they were making a movie that would save the environment and destroy extractive industries. Instead, they made a generation of millennials horny as hell for cartoon trees.

FernGully: The Last Rainforest is a fascinating mid-budget animated film that presents a mighty counterweight to the Disney behemoth of the early 1990s: Modest in scope, budget-level pop songs, and an anti-capitalist message Disney would never allow (unless James Cameron does it). And it’s not a great movie, but it’s very good, and the animation is extremely impressive. And everyone jokes that Avatar lifts the story of FernGully…. But man, it really seems like Avatar has seen FernGully. Or maybe it’s just that there are so few anti-capitalist movies made by Hollywood studios that the few that exist all seem to resemble each other.

Also: Seriously you guys, there is some legitimately horny stuff going on in this movie. Avatar also seems inspired by that part.

Next week: Charlie’s Angels (2000)

Bonus video: Matt reviews the 1980s Yugoslavian animated film The Elm-Chanted Forest. Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pzK6CiMUMxM 

Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams 

Time stamps:

• 00:02:23 — Welcome to “season three” of Load Bearing Beams
• 00:05:50 — Opening thoughts on FernGully
• 00:21:32 — History segment: Producer Wayne Young and his wife Diana steward the FernGully project; animation lifer Bill Kroyer directs; Robin Williams’s hiring creates a feud with Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg
• 00:39:27 — Movie discussion
• 01:17:42 — Final thoughts and star ratings

Sources:

• "FernGully at 25: How an Upstart Disney Rival Created a Millennial Silent Spring" by Chantel Tattoli | Vanity Fair (2017) - https://bit.ly/4m3oZj9 
• "Ferngully an enchantment" by Jamie Portman | The Calgary Herald (1992) - https://bit.ly/3JKjxnM 
• "Robin Williams's Change of Life" by Jesse Kornbluth | New York Magazine (1993) - https://bit.ly/4gbu8UQ 
• “Technological Threat” (Bill Kroyer’s 1988 animated short) - https://youtu.be/t-IbidkpD74 

Artwork by Laci Roth.

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).

Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode:

• “Your Ambition” - https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQY 
• “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM 
• “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg 
• “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ 

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