If you ever wonder why Millennials care so much about the environment, look no further than the media consumed during our formative years. From Captain Planet to Waterworld, to Free Willy and the ending of Dinosaurs, threats to the environment were becoming more and more prominent. One of my favorite ‘90s movies to tackle this issue was FernGully: The Last Rainforest. FernGully was the rare animated film to come out in the ‘90s not made by Disney, and it definitely left a lasting impression on young minds who loved the Earth.
As a child, you may have thought FernGully just appeared for your enjoyment, but as adults we all know that movies can take quite a long road to that final stage of audience consumption. FernGully was certainly no different, as the inspiration for the film came about 15 years before the film’s release in 1992. Wayne Young and his wife Diana were from Australia, and she wrote different stories about a place in the rainforest called FernGully. Though they would’ve liked to make a film about the rainforest right away, it wasn’t until environmentalism started to catch on, coupled with The Little Mermaid reviving the animation industry in 1989, that they had their chance.
Wayne Young and his producing partner Peter Faiman came to the United States to seek out help in making the film, and found it in director Bill Kroyer and his production company Kroyer Films. Kroyer was a Disney veteran and knew what young guns to hire from Disney to do the animation on FernGully. But, there was a certain Disney executive who wasn’t so keen on this new animated movie stealing some of his talent. Jeffrey Kratzenberg, the head of Disney’s animation wing, is said to have specifically out-bid facilities that the FernGully team had tried to rent out to produce the movie, and even tried to buy the eventual brewery where the team had set up shop.
Though Disney was certainly aggravated by a competing animated film, apparently what really bothered Kratzenberg was that a certain star had signed on to a voice role in FernGully. That voice star was Robin Williams, who voiced Batty Koda, but that wasn’t his only voice role that year. Robin also voiced another major animated character for Disney — the Genie in Aladdin. Kratzenberg didn’t want Robin doing both roles in the same year, but Robin refused to leave FernGully. Thankfully, in the end he was able to perform both roles.
What’s also interesting about FernGully is that they used quite a few known actors for their voice roles, which hadn’t been done very much in previous animated films, but is pretty much the norm nowadays. Alongside Robin Williams, FernGully also starred the voice talents of Samantha Mathis, Tim Curry, Christian Slater, Jonathan Ward, Tone Loc, and Cheech and Chong. With a script written by Jim Cox, who had written treatments for Beauty and the Beast, and music composed by Alan Silvestri, whose list of credits is ridiculously long, but includes such heavy hitters as the Back to the Future franchise and many of The Avengers films, FernGully was firing on all cylinders.
For those who don’t remember the story, FernGully took place in the Australian rainforest (though no one has Australian accents in the film), and was essentially about man coming to chop down said rainforest. That leads to the release of the evil Hexxus, an entity who thrives on oil and pollution, and wants to destroy the rainforest. Crysta, a fairy living in the rainforest, meets a human named Zak, and after transforming him to her tiny size, they go on an adventure to stop Hexxus with the help of Crysta’s other fairy brethren.
While the film had seriously high potential to be super hokey with its environmental message, thanks to the humor of Robin Williams, the well-done animation, and some catchy, memorable, songs, FernGully managed to be just as fun and engaging as many of the films Disney was putting out at the same time. The fact that it got made at all is something of an achievement given its independent production and mighty obstacles (ahem… Disney… ahem). Did it make as much money as one of those big Disney movies? No. But did it live on in kids’ VCRs across the country? You bet it did. And you can bet that the kids who loved FernGully are those who still fight for the environment today — so mission accomplished to all who made FernGully possible!
But what about you, were you a FernGully fan? Let us know in the comments!
- Robin Williams recorded over 14 hours of improvised lines for his character Batty Koda. What was originally meant to just be an eight-minute part in the film was tripled because the director loved his work so much.
- While most of the animation in the film was done by hand, some of it was aided by computer animation, in particular for flocks of birds. The use of computer animation cut the production time in half.
- The film marked the first time that both Cheech and Chong had worked together in six years, voicing the two beetle brothers, Stump and Root.Â
- The director and producers took the whole team down to the Australian rainforest for a seven-week research trip so that they could solidify the story and get the animation right.
- The film was originally meant to be released in November 1991, but in order to not compete with An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, FernGully moved to April 1992, which also coincided with Earth Day.
- Robin Williams recorded over 14 hours of improvised lines for his character Batty Koda. What was originally meant to just be an eight-minute part in the film was tripled because the director loved his work so much.
- While most of the animation in the film was done by hand, some of it was aided by computer animation, in particular for flocks of birds. The use of computer animation cut the production time in half.
- The film marked the first time that both Cheech and Chong had worked together in six years, voicing the two beetle brothers, Stump and Root.Â
- The director and producers took the whole team down to the Australian rainforest for a seven-week research trip so that they could solidify the story and get the animation right.
- The film was originally meant to be released in November 1991, but in order to not compete with An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, FernGully moved to April 1992, which also coincided with Earth Day.
