I bought this from a discount DVD bin, thinking if it was wretched I could just give it away. But it's definitely a keeper! I have a 3-year-old daughter who adores horses, and I have always loved them myself; I hoped when I bought this film that it would have a lot of pretty horses and scenery for our enjoyment. I was definitely not disappointed. The horses are filmed artistically, and the setting is stunning. The acting's good also, and the script is, while not perfectly faithful, a decent adaptation of the novel, but the true stars of this movie are the horses. Beautiful animals, well-filmed.
My only irritation with this movie is that occasionally they relied a bit too much on unnatural expressions on the part of the horses -- tossing heads, rolling eyes, much nipping, etc. -- in order to show the horses' emotions. It doesn't bother the kids but it does make me cringe a bit. Not enough to make me fail to enjoy the movie whenever my daughter requests it. :)
My only irritation with this movie is that occasionally they relied a bit too much on unnatural expressions on the part of the horses -- tossing heads, rolling eyes, much nipping, etc. -- in order to show the horses' emotions. It doesn't bother the kids but it does make me cringe a bit. Not enough to make me fail to enjoy the movie whenever my daughter requests it. :)