Ok, I'm desperate here...

I'll start by saying this movie may not have even necessarily been ABOUT unicorns, but they were definitely prominently featured.

Back in the mid to late 80's, I remember staying home from school one day and watching an animated movie about unicorns.  It wasn't The Last Unicorn.  I think, but can't be sure, that it was shown on HBO or Disney Channel. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't Unico either, because I've skimmed through that on Youtube and don't recognize any of it. 

What I mainly remember about it was a bunch of unicorns flying through the sky.  They are battling some kind of creature.  I think it was a mother unicorn trying to save her baby, and I kind of remember something happening to the mother.  It sticks out in my mind because it was the only movie, as a child, that ever made me cry.  I've never seen it since then but I would absolutely LOVE to find it again, somehow.  I know I haven't given you much to go on here, but any help would be so very much appreciated.

Could it be "The Fantastic Adventures of Unico"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtNX8z5y79U

If not, it could also be "Unico in the Island of Magic".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkIhgPTX8iA

I don't think that's it either, but thank you.

I recently watched an episode of the old cartoon show Dungeons & Dragons. There was an episode of that show that featured unicorns. The bad guy was capturing unicorns to steal their horns. The main good characters of that show have a baby unicorn with them called Uni. He is captured and later rescued. I'd have to rewatch it to see if any of the other unicorns get hurt trying to save him. Could that be the baby unicorn you are thinking of?

I recently watched an episode of the old cartoon show Dungeons & Dragons. There was an episode of that show that featured unicorns. The bad guy was capturing unicorns to steal their horns. The main good characters of that show have a baby unicorn with them called Uni. He is captured and later rescued. I'd have to rewatch it to see if any of the other unicorns get hurt trying to save him. Could that be the baby unicorn you are thinking of?


Could be!! I'll check it out.  Thanks!!

Alas, I don't think that's it, but thank you for the suggestion!!

There must be somebody else who saw this movie... it's KILLING ME.

My Little Pony had cartoon movies in the '80s that featured unicorns....

The Unicorn Code of Military Justice

The Unicorn Code of Military Justice


OMG, good one Max!

OMG, good one Max!

Yeah, how many times in the 80's did we want to tell Khadaffi or the Ayatollah to SIT ON IT? This would have been just the place!

Your Pal,
Doc
:D

The Unicorn Code of Military Justice


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nJFg1fTHRqc/TtseI8FABmI/AAAAAAAAWgc/_qEqdQZ0AtY/s1600/1.jpg

A-mare-ica, f*yay*k yeah!  This doesn't help Billzy with the question about the mother unicorn trying to protect its young, but it made me laugh.

Back on topic, can you narrow it down a bit: year (upper or lower bound, even if you have to think about things like "before/after Challenger blew up"), style (live action or animated?  More westernish or anime-style), and length (do you remember it as a 30-minute cartoon show or a 2-hour movie-on-TV?)  Can you remember anything about the characters?

This was mid to late 80's.  Say 1987-88ish, but that's not necessarily when it was made, since it was being shown on TV.  I remember it being longer than a 30 minute cartoon, it was more like a feature film.  Definitely animated, and if I had to pick, I'd say it was more on the anime side.  Unfortunately, I really can't remember anything about the characters.  I really wish I could dig deeper into my memories and figure this out because it's driving me nuts. lol

GAH!!!!  I will forever be haunted by this!

GAH!!!!  I will forever be haunted by this!

Are you sure its not one of the Unico movies, they made 3 plus the pilot film.
In 1979, the same year the manga ended, Unico made his animated debut in Kuroi Kumo Shiroi Hane (Black Cloud, White Feather), an ecologically-themed pilot film (for a proposed anime TV series) which was soon released directly to video. Unico meets a young girl named Chiko who is ill because of the pollution from a nearby factory, and becomes determined to cure her by destroying the factory.
The Fantastic Adventures of Unico

Although the TV series was not picked up, Unico soon made it to the silver screen in two feature-length anime films produced by Sanrio and Tezuka Productions with animation by Madhouse Studios.
Unico in the 1981 film

Unico's first movie, titled The Fantastic Adventures of Unico in English and simply Unico in Japan, was released in Japan on March 14, 1981. This musical film, narrated by Iruka, directed by Toshio Hirata, written by Masaki Tsuji, and with animation by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, presents the back story of Unico's banishment and his subsequent travels, as well as his friendships with Beezle (to whom he grants his own horn) and Chao/Katy (to whom he grants the wish of becoming a human girl).

Beezle (known as "Akuma-kun," or "Little Devil," in the original version) initially rejects Unico's overtures of friendship, but comes around when he realizes how lonely he really is. After Beezle saves Unico from drowning, the two begin their friendship in earnest, but then the West Wind comes to take Unico away.

The next creature Unico encounters is Chao (Katy), a black-and-white cat who dreams of becoming a witch. Katy and Unico befriend a lonely old woman, whom Katy mistakenly believes is a witch and will teach her some magic as well as transform her into a human girl. When Unico changes Katy into a girl, Katy at first believes that the old woman did it, until Unico proves it was his doing by changing her back into a cat; but Unico, seeing how selfish Katy has become, refuses to change Katy back to a girl, until one day when Katy saves the old woman from drowning. Katy then becomes entranced by a man posing as a lord (Danshaku in Japanese, Baron de Ghost in English). He invites her to his castle, gets her drunk and attempts to seduce her. Unico follows, rescuing Katy (with help from Beezle) after transforming into a majestic white winged unicorn and destroying the monster that the "lord" had transformed into. Afterwards, West Wind comes to take Unico away again, and Katy moves in with the old woman.

This movie includes several songs, most of which were performed in the original Japanese version by the movie's narrator, singer/songwriter Iruka; however, Chao/Katy's recurring theme song, Chao no Kuroneko no Uta (The Song of Black Cat Chao), was sung by Chao's voice actress, Kazuko Sugiyama. The movie's other songs include Unico no Teemu (Unico's Theme), Hontou wa Subishikute (Beezle/Akuma-kun's image song), and Majo Neko Chao (Witch Cat Chao), all sung by Iruka. For the U.S. release, all of the songs were dubbed into English along with the spoken dialogue, except for the ending song over the closing credits, which is an instrumental in the English version. Unico was voiced by Barbara Goodson in the English dub.
Unico in the Island of Magic

Moribi Murano (often miscredited as "Mami Sugino") directed the second movie, titled Maho no Shima e (To the Magic Island) in Japanese and Unico in the Island of Magic in English, which was released on July 16, 1983.

In this film, Unico meets a kind-hearted young girl named Cheri (also spelled "Cherry", voiced by Sumi Shimamoto). Cheri's older brother, Toby (in Japanese, "Torubi", voiced by Shuichi Ikeda), is working for the evil Lord Kuruku (in Japanese, "Kukuruku"), who plans to turn all living creatures, animals and people alike, into zombie-like beings called "Living Puppets" to be his slaves; Toby's job is to change people into Living Puppets and then lure the Living Puppets to Kuruku's island castle in exchange for learning more of Kuruku's magic. His plan is to obey and serve until he learns enough to be the master, but fails to protect Cheri twice. Toby also takes on Melvin the Magnificat ("Yamaneko" in Japanese) - who hates Unico because Unico "intruded" in "his" forest (the forest in which the West Wind left Unico) - as his assistant. After Cheri's parents and neighbors all get turned into Living Puppets, she and Unico team up to stop Kuruku.

Seeking advice from the Trojan Horse, Unico and Cheri learn that Kuruku is a puppet who was mistreated by his owners and discarded. He washed up at the edge of the world - where all unwanted "junk" ends up eventually - and was brought to life with the power of sunlight, determined to take revenge on the human race. With help from the Sphinx's daughter (voiced by Noriko Tsukase; named "Marusu" in Japanese but not given a proper name in the English version), Unico - who realizes that Kuruku is really just a lonely, friendless creature - is able to break Kuruku's spell, but since Kuruku's hate was the only thing that kept him alive, Kuruku reverts to puppet form, and Cheri keeps him as a toy. Soon afterward, the West Wind finds Unico and spirits him away once again.

As with the first movie, the second movie's ending song (Do-Re-Mi-Fa Lullaby performed by Emiko Shiratori) became an instrumental in the Spanish and English dub.
Saving Our Fragile Earth

Unico had one more anime appearance afterward, in a short film called Saving Our Fragile Earth made for showing at the Tezuka Osamu Animation Theatre at Tezuka Osamu World in Kyoto. This short, like the original pilot, had an ecological theme: Unico and Tsubasa, a talking tree boy, are distressed by the fact that the planet Earth has become polluted and drained of resources to the point of being uninhabitable. With help from the Sphinx and the "Time Fairy" (Astro Boy), the two travel back into the past to try to prevent humans from taking the wrong path and spare the Earth from ecological devastation. Famed voice actress Akiko Yajima provided the voice of Unico in this film. (In the movie versions, Unico was voiced by Katsue Miwa, and in the pilot film, the voice of Unico was Hiroya Oka.)
Home media
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Unico has a loyal fan following in the English-speaking world as well as in Japan, and this is largely due to the 1981 and 1983 theatrical features, which were dubbed into English and received Stateside exposure through VHS release in the mid-1980s and airings on The Disney Channel. However, the original VHS versions of the English releases of both movies are long out of print.

The rights to all Unico manga and anime transferred from Sanrio to Tezuka Productions after Tezuka's death in 1989; unlike Sanrio, Tezuka Productions has no American distribution arm, hence the reason why it took 25 years for the two movies to be licensed for an official North American DVD release.

Discotek Media released both films on DVD, with both the English and Japanese audio tracks in April 2012. The 1979 Unico pilot film had never been released outside Japan at all until 2012 as an extra on the "Unico in the Island of Magic" DVD release.

Digital Manga Publishing successfully funded a Kickstarter to publish the manga in full color in English.