Rating: Summary: weeping fest Review: Man, I love horses, I love their intelligent eyes, their gentle side, their wild side, just everything about them. Along with Swift, I believe that humans are just yahoos to them. So I thought this movie will deal with horses, with real communication with them, and follow the story of Monty Roberts. Unfortunately, most of the movie is spent ... crying. There's more crying happenning in this movie than at a figure-skating gathering. At one point I caught myself muttering "enough already!". Yes, it's not very sensitive to be un-sympathetic to an injured child. But what's worse than that is to depict the story in such HOLLYWOOD way -- a heaping spoon of sham, trite, and cliches. The endless crying simply feels fake. Its only purpose is to jerk a tear from an audience that's too tired of other side of Hollywood - mindless shoot-em-up macho baloney. To those folks who don't get out much, ask yourselves "Is rural Montana really like that?" Where are the yokel 4-wheeling grit-chewing road-kill-frying rednecks?? Where are the people who are regularly brought up on cruelty to animals charges? Everyone is the movie seems to be well-bathed, well-fed, and (!) have a good dentist. This movie is a big FAKE, start to finish. It does not enlighten, it does not inspire, it only irritates ad nauseum.
Rating: Summary: What Redford does well Review: I've always been a big Redford fan. But let's face it, he can be a little stiff. In this movie, he moves the movie along with the smallest effort. A look here, a small sentence there. And all the while, he's seeing right through the mother. This is a great movie if you have interest in children or animals and righting a wrong. Redford takes a mentally and physically damaged horse and is asked to magically cure it. But it's really the humans that need the help and Redford eventually works his magic on the daughter. I read the book first and it is very touching. The written description of the accident is chilling and Redford does a great job of recreating that scene in this movie. Watch this movie as it will eventually be known as a Redford classic of his real loves of the West and nature.
Rating: Summary: A memorable movie. Review: Beautifully photographed, well-written, and well directed, this movie is a joy to watch. Recommended.
Rating: Summary: The REAL Horse Whisperer Review: His name is Monty Roberts. The non-fiction book available on Amazon is "The Man Who Listens To Horses". He first started talking to horses in 1947 after watching wild Mustang communicate in the Nevada desert. Get it, read it...you will not be disappointed.
Rating: Summary: Pros and Cons Review: I have seen the movie and read the book and I have to say that while there are some positive things about both I didn't care for either. The ending in the book (I thought) was SO cheesy and the movie did a very good job of "reinventing" the final scene. The movie has STUNNINGLY beautiful scenery and music (the classical version). I loved the horses and the camera work-these parts of it were primo! BUT, the horse problems that cause the plot of the story are VERY unlikely. I have been a horse owner/rider many years now and even though I am still a novice I have associated with those who aren't and let me say this: it would be highly freakish if a horse acted that wacky even after an accident of that nature. Unless the horse had sustained serious brain injuries in which case no training would work. Horses are very adaptable and if they have a good rapport with their owner with patience they usually come around easily. But I guess they needed the outrageous behavior to make it exciting. Secondly, I was really hoping the book and movie would be more about horses, training, and the horse/human bond. Instead we get a little sordid, sinful affair and a lot of selfishness and immorality. The last scene where they lay the horse down is very poor indeed. From what I have been told by professionals, this should rarely IF EVER be done. Finally, did anyone else think the scene where Redford "hooked on' with the horse was SO melodramatic and corny. Melodrama, melodrama!! A lot of people have shared deep and I believe, spiritual bonds with horses but they portrayed in a corny manner. And I didn't care for the way they idealized ranch life-and I'm a ranchers daughter!!! It's also a shame that the "horse whisperer" a VERY old term has been Hollywoodized and commercialized. What a shame that such an old, fact-based label has been so misused! There have been real people who fit the definition of one for centuries let's not make it corny and an excuse to mass market it as though it were a product!
Rating: Summary: HORSE WHISPERER / SOUL HEALER Review: Guilt, regrets, anger are the diseases heroes of Robert Redford's last picture suffer from. In the first images of the picture, the director invites us to understand that Grace and her mother have to be considered, symbolically speaking, as a one and sole person. Then, after the accident, the wounded horse will become the representation of a unique disease that Robert Redford has the duty to cure. One can say that this movie isn't as great as it could have been. Maybe, maybe not. I loved the Montana sceneries and the length of the movie isn't a problem. I appreciated the subtle allusions Redford put in his movie in order to tell us that Tom Booker's gift has been forgotten by the men in the same way indians have slowly disappeared of their native land. An out of time DVD.
Rating: Summary: cry, wonder... Review: this movie is so amazing, and the cast and the director is awesome.. it's really sad and extremely complex! i think most sad part is when Grace is crying over her best friend in the horse whisperer's(I forgot his name) kitchen..
Rating: Summary: Much Better Than The Book Review: I read the book before seeing the movie...and promptly got rid of the book. It was an exhausting, depressing read right through to the end. There was never a sense of resolution or a feeling that life would get better for the characters. Having trudged through the book, I was reluctant to watch the film, expecting the same pall of depression--but was pleasantly suprised. The film moved me in a way the book never would. The tragedy of Grace's accident and the strain of Annie's failing marriage were no less potent, but in the movie there is a definite sense of coming to terms with these things. There is a closure here that you won't get reading the book. This movie would actually be worth more than a "Five Star" rating for its cinematography alone. If you haven't seen it yet, rent it in Widescreen. The sweeping scale of the imagery is not to be beaten.
Rating: Summary: hmmmm... Review: Redford is wonderful, but I think the movie strayed from the book enough to change the way you feel about the characters at the end. I've got to stop reading the book first.
Rating: Summary: A man called horse? Review: Although this was billed as a "chick flick," I still enjoyed this film. I can understand, though, why it's called the "Horse Whisperer," because Redford's character sure spends a lot of time with horses. If he had to talk in a loud voice, pretty soon he'd be the "hoarse whisperer." Overall, however, a sensitive and thoughtfully done film.
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