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Black Beauty
1994
This fifth feature adaptation of Anna Sewell's classic 1877 novel comes to life, told from the point of view of Black Beauty himself -- who narrates the film. Set in England, Black Beauty (who has a British accent) tells us the details surrounding his birth, his "colt-hood", and his perception of humans, since he has various .. Read more
| Starring | Sean Bean, Andrew Knott, David Thewlis, Peter Davison |
|---|---|
| Director | Caroline Thompson |
| Genres | Family |
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Black Beauty
This fifth feature adaptation of Anna Sewell's classic 1877 novel comes to life, told from the point of view of Black Beauty himself -- who narrates the film. Set in England, Black Beauty (who has a British accent) tells us the details surrounding his birth, his "colt-hood", and his perception of humans, since he has various owners throughout his life. While some of these proprietors are caring and compassionate, others prove to be cruel and crude to the vulnerable Beauty, often placing him in life-threatening situations -- which he may or may not survive.
| Starring | Sean Bean, Andrew Knott, David Thewlis, Peter Davison, Peter Cook, Eleanor Bron |
|---|---|
| Director | Caroline Thompson |
| Studio | WARNER HOME VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 24 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Family |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | Dutch, French, Italian |
| Hearing-impaired | English, Italian |
| Subtitles | DVD: Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish |
| Released | DVD: 21 Aug 2000 Production year: 1994 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (5)
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Sadly inert version of the classic tale, narrated by the horse itself, a device that robs the story of any dramatic quality, since the events tend to be described before they are shown, and which also plays down any human interest.
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This version slow-burns with an old-fashioned sense of injustice. The story is told from Black Beauty's point of view... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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54 out of 59 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Put something else on !
Film adaptation of classic novel by Anna Sewell. Told from the eyes of a horse (Black Beauty).
The wife enjoyed this, the kids figeted and fought all the way through it and I found something else to do catching bits and pieces of the film here and there.
Some good acting and the horse obviously extremely well trained but for me isn't enough to pull it quite out the fire. It's not overly a bad film but I can think of thousands of other films I'd rather watch.
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- JediSi
- Posted 21 Aug 2007 22:39
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Most recent members' review
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Best yet ... alas this is not saying much
All film adaptations of Anna Sewell's book produced so far have grossly oversimplified the plot. Alas, this version, though the least inaccurate yet, is no exception.
The horse training and the nature photography are impressive and some of the scenes of Sean Bean with Black Beauty as a foal are delightful (be polite and overlook the fact that the foal is clearly a filly!) Merrylegs is quite charming. Quite why we had to have a romance between Black Beauty and Gingfer escapes me.
Do today's children really need a plot to be so sanitised though? Anything that could cause distress has gone, and with it has gone the moral statements that were so much a part of the book. A pity. -
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This fifth feature adaptation of Anna Sewell's classic 1877 novel comes to life, told from the point of view of Black Beauty himself -- who narrates the film. Set in England, Black Beauty (who has a ... -