Black Beauty (1994)

the audience applauded

Sorry, this movie sucks

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I had heard of the novel but was not familiar with the actual story and didn't know it was about a horse's life from his perspective. It is beautifully and authentically shot, and has neither contrived animal cuteness nor a plot with contrived drama and sentimentality. Rather, you see the animals in their natural beauty as well as in difficult situations that you are made to see from their perspective. Horse life is shown in its raw state, both the exhilaration and the brutality. I about balled my eyes out on this film. If you don't at least choke up a little, you may need to pinch yourself to see if you're alive. I did have some good laughs too. Honestly I don't know how they got many of the animal shots.

I loved the movie! I'm a big horse lover. A very good movie for anyone that likes horses. It was a very nice story told from the horses point of view. The music and the scenery were both beautiful. This is a movie for all ages that captivates the young and the old. If this movie was made in Hollywood they would some how find a way to ruin it but instead was made in England. The English always seem to make nice movies like this without over doing it. The movie as one would expect does not have a lot of action sequences to it. Instead the movie relies on good story telling supported with excellent acting. The scenes with the English county side are beautiful. I would watch again and recommend it to all.

I love this film and have seen it a few times. I am totally prejudiced because I live on a horse ranch with four horses and mine is an ex-stallion big (16h3) and, oh yeah, he's black. You've got to give the film and the story some room and accept the anthropomorphic horse driven narrative. The story has all the highs and lows of cinematic drama without dipping into melodrama for more than a moment or two. There are several versions of the book and this is the best production and the most emotional. If you like Old Yeller or The Yearling and you have some Kleenex nearby and want to get completely lost in a wonderful epic of a horse's life and horses he encounters and all the people he crosses paths with then grab some popcorn and your tissues and saddle up with this great movie.

Yet another film-adaptation of Anna Sewell's popular 1877 children's book opens with a elderly horse looking back on his tumultuous life--narrating the story himself (with a British accent no less!). What might have been a twee gimmick turns out to be a surprisingly canny stroke of genius, as the screenplay, although prosy, is smart and direct and Alan Cumming's gentle voice-over is very sympathetic. Director Caroline Thompson is sensitive as well, getting terrific "performances" from all the horses involved; her film is a bit heavy on the sad farewells, yet it has lots of heart and works on its audience through pure emotion. Thin at 88 minutes, but beautifully photographed and with a tasteful score by Danny Elfman, fine acting by the humans. A must-see for horse-lovers, the movie is genuinely touching without being too manipulative. **1/2 from ****