5/5 Black Beauty - A Timeless Classic Retold
  by Daniel C. Franklin
The story of Black Beauty has been told many times, but none as well as this version. The photography is outstandingly beautiful from start to finish. The filming was done in Ireland and Spain, both providing beautiful backdrops. The musical score is superb, composed by Lionel Bart, who wrote the music for Oliver!. The acting is very well done by a cast of mostly unknown actors, with the exceptions of Mark Lester as Joe Evans, Black Beauty's original owner, and Walter Slezak, owner of the circus where Black Beauty resides for awhile. This is the sort of film that makes the viewer want to start it again as soon as it finishes. This film is completely suitable for family viewing, for people of all ages. I highly recommend it.

2/5 Not the Black Beauty you know and love
  by Staci L. Wilson (USA)
There have been several versions of Black Beauty produced for the cinema and for television. One of the weakest versions is the 1971 British production, which focuses much more on its parade of human characters than it does the horse. In the book and several of the movie versions, we get to know Beauty. We feel what he feels, and we understand what he is thinking as he passes from owner to owner. Beauty goes from a loving, happy family and life on an English farm with a little boy (Mark Lester) who loves him, to the cruel hands of the local land baron (Patrick Mower). Then he's stolen by Gypsy stereotypes, shipped across the continent, sold to a circus, and gifted to a gentleman who in turn gives the horse to his daughter. The daughter presents Beauty to her lover, who's a soldier headed for India. When the young man is killed in battle, Beauty is shipped back to England, where he goes to work in a coal mine. Instead of the people in the story being the thread woven through the horse's life, in this version it is just the opposite. While a horse called Ginger is mentioned in passing, the colorful equine characters in Beauty's orbit - most notably, Merrylegs - are all excised.

Adding insult to injury, the filmmakers made precious little attempt to match the various horses who portrayed Beauty throughout the years. Different shades, different builds, and even completely different breeds were used interchangeably. To a horse-lover, this is on par with a director casting Jack Nicholson, Jackie Chan, and Jacqueline Bisset in the same role and expecting the audience not to notice. The only constant was the extremely shoddy-looking fake star painted on the horse's forehead.


Staci Layne Wilson


1/5 This version is not for young children!
  by
After hearing so much about Black Beauty, and studying horses with my 5yr old we got this movie at the library. I was sad that I had not previewed it before letting her view it. I was surprised to see the fighting with the men stabbed in the chest. After talking with some friends I have found out there are other versions of Black Beauty that are wonderful and good for children to see.

1/5 This video is terrible!!!
  by
This version of Black Beauty is nothing like the book. It is terribly boring, the situations are unbelievable, and none of the characters are sympathetic. For most of the movie, I just kept hoping it would end. Try a different version.

2/5 Not for the book's fans
  by
It is a fair movie with nice horses, but some of the scenes get kind of weird and it isn't at ALL like the book. The photography is good and the story is heartwarming but it gets very dull and strange. BTW, It was a great movie I thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!, June 30, 2002--is a verry long review somebody should take it off its as bad as the miovie.