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Submitted by I DiBartolo
FernGully: The Last Rainforest is one of — heck, the best — animated movie about fairies defending a rainforest in Australia. The movie featured the voice talent of Tim Curry and Christian Slater, as well as Robin Williams as the Genie Batty, a genie bat. FernGully also had a strong environmentalist slant that was about as subtle as Captain Planet.
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Oh, sadly… while the film was animated well and was fun to watch… it was WAY too preachy. WAAAAY too preachy. That’s why people are calling Camerons AVATAR “Ferngully in Space”…
Ya when I was little I wasn’t very concerned with the environmental preachy-ness of the movie, I just liked fairies! hahaha!
It isn’t way too preachy. What do you think happens when people decimate huge swaths of rainforest? Plants and animals die. Is the film too preachy because it showed us that, and because it shoved all of the blame onto humanity? That’s where it belongs. Personally I’m glad I could grow up with a movie like this that had a strong message.
If you want “too preachy,” enlist in one of these brainwashing Jesus Camps. Then see what you have to complain about.
this response is too preachy… I like my cartoons sans ‘messages’… PURE ENTERTAINMENT!
I get your point, but I think most animal species are not conscious, therefore are not aware of their own life, of death, and do not suffer (but I have no doubts their nervous system can transmit information to their brain. I just don’t think their brain translates it as pain like our brain does).
So I really could care less about killing animals if it is useful (I do think we should avoid doing so when possible however).
Anyway, I do agree that we must take care of our environment. I just don’t agree with the “never kill animals because they have feelings” opinion.
My point is, for someone like me, that kind of movie can be too preachy.
But as a child, I did not really pay attention to this, and I did learn the lesson of taking care of the environment.
Children do not understand subtleties and complex issues. I think if you want to get them to understand something, you have to be a bit preachy about it.
I have no doubt that no child under the age of 10 realized this movies was preachy, and I have no doubt I would find it preachy myself if I watched it now as an adult.
(Please spare me the debate about animal consciousness. I’m sure many people here do not agree with me and will feel the need to make me change my opinion on the matter. The fact is that there is a lot of scientific evidence supporting my point of view, so a quick conversation on this website won’t change anything. Also, my point in this message is not to support or defend this theory but to explain why some people my find the movie preachy).
most animals are sentient, and therefore conscious of themselves and the world. all i have to say.
Your logic is flawed to the nth degree. Why are humans able to be conscious of their own pain and death, but a cat, or a cow, are not? Because they’re ‘dumb’? There are plenty of moronic humans out there, and yet even they are conscious enough to know what ‘ow’ is.
And there is LITTLE scientific evidence to your post. I’ve seen many, many reports on animals experiencing thoughts and ‘consciousness’. If you think your theory is true, I’d like to see some cold hard proof.
Sentient=conscious.
Your logic is so flawed it’s beyond any sort of repair.
To say that most animals do not suffer and cannot feel pain is a statement only a complete moron would make. Humans really aren’t that special and we’re certainly not the only life form on this planet “lucky” enough to feel pain. A cat, dog, pig, or cow — and countless other “common” animals — are about as intelligent and as aware of themselves as a baby or toddler, which, of course, are both aware of themselves and are very able to feel pain.
And, really, if you want to be “spared the debate over animal consciousness” — don’t post idiotic comments like your own on something that really has nothing to do with your half-brained argument. Read some books, visit some websites, and do your f*cking research before you go on sites such as this and vomit your ignorance everywhere.
You made me realize how similar this is to one of my coworkers, actually, who “believes” that “animals don’t have feelings.” She bases this on nothing, she just “believes” it.
Unfortunately many of my other coworkers think I’m pretty stupid for being upset about it, but she bases her entire opinion of non-human animals around that belief. :/
It is people like you that wear away my respect for humanity. I can only hope that for every one person as ignorant as you, there are at least ten caring, thoughtful people like those who replied to your heartless and uneducated post.
“Children do not understand subtleties and complex issues.”
I did. I know I wasn’t alone in that. I loved Ferngully, My Neighbor Totoro, and Captain Planet. I cared that animals died when trees were cut down, and I learned not to litter and leave water running and other stuff that, admittedly, has worn off with time (I leave my computer on more than Captain Planet would advice, that’s for sure). I couldn’t do a whole lot about it, but I cared.
obvious troll is obvious
You watched the movie? According to it, what happens is not as much ‘animals and plants die’ as ‘powerful evil beings get released.’
This seems a mite unrealistic.
You’re right. I loved this movie, and nothing now-a-days has ANY kind of message let alone a strong one.
who cares if its too preachy anyways?
its not like its preaching smething that is up for discussion.
like, religion. Some people don’t want to be religious or some people want to be catholic instead of christian, or buddhist or wiccan or whatever!
but this message is something that is true. There is a cause and an effect and there will never be any change. period. If we kill off huge sections of rainforrest = animals lose their habitat and go endangered = we lose indigenous plants and animals. that will never change, so i think its a valid topic to preach.
Not really. Bad stuff happens if the rainforest is destroyed. That’s just the way it is. Also, nature is pretty, and bats are cool, and FAIRIES~ It was less preachy than Happy Feet, and that was still far more entertaining than preachy.
Holy F i love this movie!!!!
I would watch it every other day when I was little and could recite the whole movie word for word!
The hell are all of you talking about?Ferngully blew chunks.
The above reply was more than likely made by someone born AFTER the movie was made.
On a better note, anyone know where I can watch ferngully online? This particular entry has made me… nostalgic.
So? I was born before the movie came out, and I agree with Tom.
Are you kidding me?The movie just wasn’t enjoyable.I mean I’m glad I barely remember it.I mean the message of environmentalism was way way too forced and the movie was built around annoying characters.
There are much better nostalgic movies.I mean I to this day sometimes watch Back to the Future,Beetlejuice etc.Though I guess I was growing up when I watched this movie and just couldn’t handle the crappy humor and overly forced brick-to-the-head anthropocentric environmentalist bull****.
This movie must be cool because it has Tim Curry. He is awesome.
I love this movie now, but i used to hate it because Hexus (Tim Curry) scared the hell out of me
He was always my favorite character! The Leveller was sooo badass.
Holy CRAP, me too. I can still remember bits of the song he sang when oozing out of the pile of planks. Creeped the frick out of me.
AAH Me too. Even now, I would NOT watch this movie alone. Not the parts with him in it, at least.
FernGully, yeah!
I have this movie!
I missed the part in the movie where it took place in a rain forest in Australia….I missed the part that Australia even HAD rain forests. I thought it was all koala bears, kangaroos, and desert. Someone educate me please XD.
There was actually one rain forest left in Australia, so two men created an entire animation studio just to make this movie for it. That’s why it’s called Ferngully: The Last Rainforest.
wow, the stupidity and ignorence of Americans never ceases to amaze me, you think it would after so many years…..but then an idiot says some thing like that and BAM it hits you again…..
by the way i LOVED FernGully!!!!! i watched it sooo many times
To be fair- America IS kind of big- I spent most of my years at school learning about the different forests and mountain ranges history there- It’s not our fault that Australia never really made it into the curriculum. I realize this is where we’re all ignorant gits who never felt the need to learn anything outside of school, but how much of your Saturday afternoons did you spend reading about the Appalachian mountains? I apologize for our inherent ignorance.
There’s a rainforest in the US, though.
Temperate rainforest didn’t seem to be worth mentioning until I hit uni, though.
Temperate Rainforests are the shiz. They tend to be cooler than tropical rainforests, but that might just be my experiences with the kajillions of temperate rainforests in Washington state and Oregon, where I’m from. The only tropical rainforest I’m aware of in the U.S. would be Puerto Rico’s, right? And they have temperate rainforests all over the U.S., so I may be wrong in how awesome they are. They’re just awesome in the Northwest.
Parts of Hawaii also have rainforests.
Geh. Well, duh. You now know that I am a geographical genius. Sort of.
(I’ve been to Hawaii, too. >_> Geez.)
Wow, rude much? The poster you replied to may have been ignorant (and, as a matter of fact, admitted as much), but to call them stupid and an idiot is crossing the line. They, at least, asked to educated on a subject about which they knew nothing. They learned of something new and wanted more information on the topic – how in the world does that make them an idiot?
Not only do we have rainforests, the specific rainforest Fern Gully was modelled on is on the Lamington National Park in SE Queensland. The naturalist who was a consultant for the film is a professional photographer and biologist who works in the area. The movie is a fairly good depiction of the types of flora and fauna seen in the park.
Education? Well, Australia is only 300 sq kms smaller than the continental US and has may different habitats although a much smaller population than the US. Much of the mountainous areas in Queensland and New South Wales are rainforest as well as in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Although I take the point of a commenter below that the US is a big place, Australia is a big place too and we manage to teach the history, geography and biology of our own country as well as that of others.
They teach us the history, geography and biology of other countries as well, but most curriculums do not include Australia beyond how the country itself was established, indigenous animals and a very overview of geography. Sure, we’re not taught about the rainforests of Australia, but how much are you taught about the geography of specific states in the US?
For instance, how much do you know about America’s deserts?
*very brief, I meant very brief
I mistyped, deleted and then went on to the next word…oops!
OMG I loved this movie!
I dont suppose i thought about the environment-aware edge to this movie, when i was like…5.
Anyone remember when Pizza Hut did a Fern Gully promotion? They gave away tree seeds with the kid meals (personal pan pizza!). For that matter, remember Pizza Hut’s BookIt? Do they still do that for kids?
“Are you sure about that?”
“I’m positive.”
“Only fools are positive.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive!”
Still. Quote. To this day.
Whew, glad I’m not the only one.
Me three!!
I bought this on dvd from Walmart… and the derned thing was broken!!! /cry
omg I love this movie! I have it on my computer so I can watch it any time I want. I love batty and I absolutely love his rap song.
I’m still trying to overcome the reprogramming I underwent from this movie as a child.
I thought this movie sucked. Its moral lesson had all the grace and subtlety of a sledgehammer. I found it extremely condescending.
Was anyone else scared sh*tless by Hexus (Time Curry) back in the day?
I had to leave the room whenever he came back with a skull and spine- it gave me nightmares!
THIS. Those 2 poacher guys from the second one couldn’t touch the “Slime beneath me” song X______X
Me! And now I love Tim Curry’s voice, so going back and watching his bits is someone confusing. “I want to be scared, but that’s warring with feeling aroused!”
Tim Curry was the scary guy in my dreams as a child: Rocky Horror, It, Legend, Annie, Home Alone 2 (yes, he freaked me out in this – what of it? Lol) and this? I love him, but the dude freaks me out most of the time.
Ah I looooove this movie my top fave movies as a kid were the little mermaid, fern gully, the lion king, and cinderella.
i love tim curry!
but i’ve never seen this.
Really!? all the great movies that came out over the years and THIS is the epic win? What about casablanca, Citizen kane, or even more recently Star wars, The goonies, Karate kid? I mean if we’re going to start including movies here let’s at least use movies deserving of epic wins.
To a lot of people, this movie was nostalgic. I never even heard of Citizen Kane until I was in highschool, so how would it be nostalgic? Besides, I think Star Wars and the Goonies were already epic wins. If I’m wrong, then why not nominate them yourself?
I grew up with this movie, to me and a lot of people, this movie is an epic win.
Dude, this is more deserving than Karate Kid.
But I doubt a lot of people reading this website were children when Casablanca and Citizen Kane came out, and probably only watched them well after they were fifteen (if at all). That’s not exactly nostalgia win, there. It’s more like classic win, in which case we might as well go, “Damn, man, that Beethoven!”
It was an OK movie. Watched it on video while I was in college. Unfortunately, the day we watched it was the day after a NASTY ice storm. So I walked back to my dorm through dozens of broken, dead trees. Oh, my heart hurt. D:
Anyone else remember Tone Loc as the lizard? “If I’m gonna eat somebodyyyy, it might as well be you!”
Finally!
Is it just me, or is it kind of dirty? >:D
“He’ll do you in one bite
Floating down the river
Like an oyster in a stew…”
My dad is a Batty quoting machine.
definitely a preachy movie, but i LOVED it. actually, it really inspired me to help save the rainforest… unfortunately, a small child´s best idea for saving the rainforest is dumping water on the bad guys. i totally planned it out. my mother still has the “plans” up on her wall.
Perhaps the movie was preachy (it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but I remember it pretty well) but it was still good. I used to have a doll of the main fairy (I can’t remember her name)… And the Hexus thing freaked me out as a kid.
Crysta. ^n_n^
Everyone is afraid of the singing blob it seemed.
Wasn’t anyone afraid of the chick fairy’s grandma? She kinda creeped me out… 0_o
Then she turned to sparkling dust
Human tales? Humans don’t have tails!!!! They have BIG BIG bottoms that they wear with bad shorts, and walk around saying “Hi Helen!”
OMG Batty!
LOVE!!! Me and my girlfriends STILL say this exact quote whenever discussion of this movie comes up
I can’t count the number of times I watched this movie as a kid. In fact I think you’ve inspired me to go out and rent this from the Blockbuster I work at.
i still own ferngully on video, yes i said video. my mum bought it for me when i was about 5, i’m 20 now. i still watch it and i still love it! it sends a great message and when i have my kids they will be watching it too ^.^
I’ve still got it on video, too! I should get a DVD copy.
Let’s see what the Nostalgia Critic has to say about this!
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/4191-ferngully
And he is damn right about everything he said in this and his other vids! Ferngully is nostalgic fail.
I thought it was crazygood. I love Tim Curry and loved him as a child. And Hexxus scared the poop out of me when I was a kid. The second one wasn’t as good, of course, but I thought the message was good.
I still want to cry when a forest gets cut down. Maybe not because of the fairies losing their homes, but because of what FernGully taught me
Wait, there was a second one?
preachy social commentary has never been this much fun
<3 I used to cry so freaking hard at the end. I saw this at indoor recess day in 3rd grade and made mom go to the video store so i could watch the whole thing.
Hexxus was the scariest cartoon villain EVER… for me. I don’t know what it was about him, but he scared the pants off me as a small child. He still kinda does.
My sister, on the other hand, thought Hades from Disney’s Hercules was much scarier. I just thought he was funny. :/
Hades? Really? I mean, I could see seeing him as somewhat scary, but he has enough comedic moments to break it up that it’s not anything that I’d think would linger…
animals are not conscious?? are you OUT OF YOUR MIND?? my dog is so intelligent that she knows by what pair of shoes i pick out of the closet whether i’m going to to work, out dancing or taking her to the park. clearly that freak has never even been in the room with an animal and is stupider than an insect.!
Hey now, insects are pretty freakin’ smart. Never underestimate the value of hive intelligence.
And, as a dog trainer, I must point out that dogs are masters of picking out patterns. It’s how, in the wild, they know when certain things are going to happen. ‘Hey! All the birds are flying South! Wait a minute, they did that last year and then things got cold pretty quickly – better prepare!’
It’s how they know when you’re coming home from work if you keep a regular schedule.
I’m not saying they’re not intelligent or that they aren’t conscious of what is going on around them, I’m just saying that your dog knowing where you are going by the type of shoes you’re wearing isn’t really that big a sign of intelligence. My Annabelle can tell by which collar I put on her whether she’s going with me to work or if she’s staying home – she’s also dumb as a box of rocks. An obedient box of rocks, but that’s beside the point.
“It’s Darwin’s Grab Bag!”
Lol, the new name for the internet!
ROFLMAO – you are soooo right. All levels of evolution are definitely represented (though the higher levels are less so most of the time)!
“yo! the name is Batty! the logic is erratic…”
“wait a minute, fairies don’t wear shoes… HUMAN!!!”
This is still one of my favorite movies!
I love, love, love this movie! I remember last year we were voting for what movie to watch during exams and barely anyone knew what this movie was. I still get mad at my best friend because she doesn’t know what the hell I was talking about.
This movie sucked big time.
I bought this movie for $10 recently and immediately watched it when I got home. I used to watch it all the time when I was a kid.
I also looked at the cast list and, of course, there’s Robin Williams, Christian Slater, Tim Curry…but I had no idea Cheech and Chong were in it!!!
Of course I immediately let my very christian father know about that as well 
needless to say he wasn’t very impressed! lol
love ferngully ♥
Movies like this kinda backfired on me. For example, Batty sparked my interest in cybernetics for the purpose of making screwy animals that sounded like Robin Williams. Jurassic Park made me want to go into genetics so I could make dinosaurs. And so forth.
OH MY GOD.
THANK YOU!
I LOVE THE BATTY RAP! I KNOW ALL THE WORDS!
THIS WAS LIKE MY FAVORITE MOVIE WHEN I WAS 6!!!
i was so excited i used caps. thx.
I’ll admit, I didn’t even know this movie existed until January of this year, but that doesn’t change the fact that I LOVE it. Yes the green message was delivered with all the tact and subtlety of a brick to the face, but I just don’t understand how a movie that has Robin Williams rapping and Tim Curry singing erotically about pollution could be bad. (…Ok, when you word it that way, yeah I can, but my point still stands.)
I’ve loved Ferngully, watched it in college the other day with my best friend. I also have the sequel on VHS.
What an epic movie. If you saw this in the theatre as a kid, it was like jumping into an acid trip inside Captain Planet’s crotch. You really didn’t know what was going on, all of a sudden there were eerie, soothing sounds and evil, sexy oil skeletons voiced by Tim Curry singing funk.
Still, it’s nice to see that despite the horrible animation, the environmentalist crowd was still able to some how equate the sin of sex with the sin of deforestation, instead of the usual Rightwingers.
Man, I have to stop watching this stoned.
WHOEVER F*N thinks this movie is about anything other than educating young kids about the harm that they can potentially do to the earth is ridiculous! This movie is AWESOME and ALWAYS will be! I remember it from my KIDHOOD and I will always love it… anyone who wants to “analyze” the facts… I think you need to watch better movies. Check yourself before you wreck yourself!