The Black Stallion
Director: Carroll Ballard
Year Released: 1979
Rating: 2.5
First part is The Blue Lagoon but with Brooke Shields replaced by a horse, second National Velvet but with a boy instead of Elizabeth Taylor (Mickey Rooney is the same character, but about sixty years older). I'd be lying if I said there's wasn't a feeling of grandeur for that first part – the boy riding the wild horse along the glimmering beach is an undeniably wondrous sight – but the second part, the return to civilization, is such a let-down that it overshadows the accomplishments of the first half. It's a shame that the only thing you can do with such a powerful horse – which has a soul, mind you – is have it race to win other people money. At least in The Electric Horseman Redford freed the damn thing.
