FernGully is getting a live-action adaptation at Amazon MGM Studios with Nightbitch director Marielle Heller at the helm

Boy, oh, boy. Amazon MGM Studios is handing journalists a loaded gun this afternoon by announcing a live-action reimagining of the 1992 animated feature FernGully: The Last Rainforest. There’s so much I could say about how timely this announcement is, or how the themes of FernGully never go out of vogue because the planet is worse than it was when the Bill Kroyer-directed original tried to warn us all about the dangers of deforestation so many years ago. Setting my soapbox aside for a moment, the live-action FernGully film finds Nightbitch director Marielle Heller at the helm, who directs the project from her own script.

The Original FernGully Was a Warning to All

The original FernGully: The Last Rainforest focuses on the magical inhabitants of a rainforest who fight to save their home from logging and a destructive force called Hexxus. Kroyer’s animated classic features the voices of Robin Williams, Samantha Mathis, Christian Slater, Tim Curry, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, and more. The original film is a gem by early 90s animation standards, with FernGully’s powerful deforestation scene nearly as devastating as Little Foot’s mother’s death in The Land Before Time or Setsuko and Seita’s boarding the ghost train in Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies.

Heller’s Re-teaming with Hanks

Before Heller puts her live-action spin on an animated classic, she’s prepping pre-production for The Comebacker, an anticipated sports drama starring her A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood lead, Tom Hanks. Written by Heller and Dave Eggers (Where the Wild Things Are, Away We Go, The Circle), The Comebacker revolves around a pitching coach whose life is upended when his major league pitcher is hit in the head by a line drive on the mound, changing everything.

FernGully: The Last Rainforest Leaves Scars

During a year when movies like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Porco Rosso, Cool World, and Bebe’s Kids were lighting up the silver screen, it was tough to stand out. However, becoming eco-conscious was en vogue, and a little movie called FernGully: The Last Rainforest wanted audiences to wake up to the horrors of deforestation and widespread pollution.

At the start of the film’s climax, the logging company begins its work, putting blade to trunk, crushing animal homes with grinding treads. As we slowly bake in the eventual heat death of the universe, it’s difficult not to think of Zack and Crysta’s effort to save their rainforest. The carnage during this epic scene is visceral, destructive, and cautionary. It reminds us that we’ve only got one chance to treat our planet right in our lifetime, lest we leave it in shambles for the next generation. FernGully and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles PSAs are the reason I cut my soda rings before recycling them. That’s staying power.

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