Black Beauty (2020) Review

Black Beauty (2020) Review 

Dir. Ashley Avis

 

Modernised Classic is a simple tale with unbridled heart. 

 

Trotting quietly onto Disney Plus this month is a new adaptation of the beloved novel Black Beauty, this time set in modern day, rural USA. Hitting the streaming platform with relatively little fan fare, this retelling has a lot of humility within and I found myself falling hook line and sinker for the engrossing, albeit predictable, ride it takes you on. 

 

I come into this film without a negative bias for this attempt at rewriting a classic. I admit that the original book and the several cinematic versions previous, have as of yet escaped me. I am well aware of the tale of Black Beauty and its importance in stories and films. However, I have no aversion or malcontent towards a 2020 set, Americanised reinvention. I look beyond the context, into the film as a self contained watch. And in that respect, I found myself enjoying it most of the time. 

 

Disney excels in capturing the beauty of nature and animals in particular, whether it be wildlife in action or the beautiful locales of rural habitats. Recent Disney films be it big budget or in this case small are always good at setting the scene, but not so often good at filling it. 

 

The film does a great job of humanising the horse characters, aside from the obvious and soft narration of Kate Winslet as the titular horse herself. The care is taken to make the horses simulate and match the emotional beats of the story very well and with empathetic results. This is not just a static shot of a horse with narration telling us how the animal feels, you’re being told with both mediums. 

 

 

 

 

From an actors side, Mackenzie Foy and Iain Glen Cary the films human perspectives amongst some otherwise underwritten and often cliche supporting characters. Most antagonist characters are lacking nuance and drift dangerously close to pantomime villain territory at times, but luckily those parts are small enough to not detract from the very human main story. 

 

Mackenzie Foy in particular stands out. She continues to be an actress that transcends her youth in her on-screen presence and gravitas as she has done ever since her role in Interstellar 6 years previously. She often acts scenes completely alone except for the company of horses, and tackles this task with commitment that is often missing from a film of this scale. Aside from her, not many other actors stick out, but I think the underdevelopment of side characters is in this case intentional. From the perspective of Black Beauty, every other character than Jo would indeed seem one dimensional.  

 

The modernisation works well in a way that it’s not getting much credit for. For young audiences, this version of the classic tale will make the story much more accessible and relatable to the current generation. This is never a bad thing, although at times it feels like the movie wants to keep some of the Victorian elements of danger and mistreatment, while simultaneously juxtaposing it with smart phones and mean girls. 

 

One noticeable misstep is that the movie sometimes focuses on the lesser elements, sacrificing interesting subplots at its expense. One compelling section of the story is given very little time to shine, an irritatingly short segment involving a character played by Hakeem Kae-Kazim, who’s character oozes humility but is sadly unloved by the busy and chapter-like third act. In that respect, it prioritised the wrong area as I’d happily have seen that story get as much time as the snobby showjumping section.

 

In the end, Black Beauty is a simple narrative. It’s not groundbreaking in any way, but the selling point here is the relationship it establishes between horse and human. In that aspect, it succeeds. The emotional beats land, while some of the supporting characters don’t, and in the end Black Beauty proves itself worthy of standing alongside its predecessors. 

 

7/10

 

Review by Elliott Thomas Griffiths