heliotis (03/30/83)
The Return of the Black Stallion
I don't know how many of you out there are ardent fans of the first movie,
but I certainly am. This second flick does not hold as special a place in
my heart as the first one, but, what the heck -- you can't have the
discovery, the "falling in love", take place a second time.
The movie starts off weakly by having a narrator explain who the new
characters in this movie are, and what they will be doing (any adult would
have figured that out, and I don't think the children would care). They
then have a scene at the boy's house (where did they get the nice house with
the barn?) where the horse is eventually 'stolen'. Terri Garr (sp?) gives
yet another weak performance as Eric Ramsey's mother.
One starts to think that this is going to be just another second rate
adventure movie, but the picture does pick up once he gets to Arabia. The
scenery is well photographed, and F.F.C. does take the time to familiarize
the audience with the ways of the Arabs. The scenes with The Black/Shitan
are also well done once again. My only complaint for the last three
quarters of the movie is that the good tribal leader is a bit too purely
good, and the bad one is incredibly stereotypically bad.
The ending satisfied me, and all in all, I was pleased with the film,
although I think it was directed slightly more to a younger audience than
the first. We had a "buy one ticket, get one free" coupon, and the movie
was certainly worth that price, probably more.
Jim Heliotis
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