The Horse Whisperer

Rating:
Summary: Elf, A Worthwhile Comedy
Review: Movies are generally put into as set category; comedy, drama, action, horror, and quite a few others. The movie Elf staring Will Farrell is most definitely a comedy and in my opinion worth seeing twice. Elf is perfect for the family, both children and parents are entertained.
Elf is about a baby boy from an adoption agency that on one Christmas Eve crawled into Santa's bag and unknowingly taken to the North Pole. He was named Buddy and raised by one of the elves. Buddy grew up thinking he was an elf and not until his early thirties did he know he was human. Buddy then leaves the North Pole to find his father. After finding his uptight, workaholic father he moves in and spreads the holiday cheer to everyone. But after ruining a large business meeting his father tells him to leave and that he is not loved. Feeling out of place everywhere Buddy runs away.
To find out what happens with the rest of the movie, make sure that Elf is on your Christmas list. This movie had me laughing for days. Will Farrell does a great job playing a character that is always optimistic and oblivious to the social rules of mankind.
At the North Pole, Christmas was a way of life and making toys came easily to Buddy. However, people in the rest of the world stopped believing and this was a huge problem for Santa as his sleigh ran on the Christmas spirit. Without believers, there would be no Christmas. Buddy and the friends he made finding his father made people believe again.
Elf is one to watch with the whole family and right in time for Christmas. Get into the Christmas spirit with this fun filled comedy.


Rating:
Summary: Needs a good editor
Review: This was Evan's first novel, and his editor could have helped to improve it. Not to make it shorter, but to shake the problems out. It could have been a very good story, because Evans is a good writer. The story starts out beautifully, and it seems it's going to be about the daughter's physical and emotional healing process, and how certain aspects of love and spirituality can build bridges between people and animals (in this case, horses). But the story all but abandons the daughter and focuses on a selfish love triangle, and the ending is over-the-top pathetically bad. Each year there is a contest to see who can purposely write the worst opening to a novel (e.g. it was a dark and stormy night . . .), but this novel could win a contest for the worst ending, which I won't give away. See the movie for a better version of this story.

Rating:
Summary: potentially great fiction, mild porn
Review: What an abject disappointment!! When I started reading, I became transfixed. Let me say first, that Evans is an exceptionally gifted, insightful and descriptive writer. And that's what hooked me. But then, a novel that appeared heading toward deep emotional catharsis, and meaningful symbolism degenerates into a sordid, mildly pornographic romance novel between the lead female character, Annie, and the 'horse whisperer' Tom---the cowboy fellow she commissions to help heal her daughters' nutty horse. It's as though the author decided on page 300 to pull out "all stops" and insert the sex-formula into the book's recipe; after all, without sex, we immature American's won't be content! Totally unecessary and unfortunately, a real drag on what could have been an otherwise highly meaningful work. I also resent the author's patronizing attempt at conveying the infidelity as something we, the readers, should happily accept as o.k. Mr Evans didn't have to take this route, and his novel would, I believe, still have acheived record status.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: I saw the movie when it first came out. At the time I wasn't an avid reader so I never took the time to sit and read. This summer I was looking for something to grab me and boy did this ever. For the first time in years I couldn't wait to sit down and read. I found myself going to the park on my lunch breaks just so I could go read. I loved the story line and would get so excited about it I would sometimes sneek a peek to see what was to come. This book is much better than the movie. If you are looking for a GREAT book this is it.