Black Beauty (DVD, 1999)

The only reason I purchased the DVD was to see Sean Bean's performance. Unfortunately, the packaging and promotion of this film erroneously bills Sean Bean as "the star" of the film, yet he appears in only four scenes with less than five lines of dialogue. Sean Bean is only in the first 15 minutes of the movie. So this was a huge disappointment to me. This movie was released around the same time as "Goldeneye" the James Bond movie which Sean Bean had a major co-starring role and that film was a huge hit. I think the studio that produced "Black Beauty" was just trying to cash in on Sean Bean's success in "Goldeney" and use false advertising to overstate his participation in "Black Beauty". Just wanted to warn Sean Bean fans to only expect a very small "bit part" from him. Well, yes he looks lethally gorgeous, scrumptious yummy so handsome, good looking and gives his usual masterful, strong performance! So although he's only in a tiny bit of the film - for Bean Buffs you'd enjoy the fleeting glimpse of a performance in a sorely underwritten role.

However, overall this is a wonderful, wholesome clean-cut family film parents can enjoy with their kids. The costumes, sets, cinematography are gorgeous. This is a very glossy, visually appealing film with lush production values. The cast is very strong and gives excellent performances. David Thewlis and Eleanor Bron are wonderful in their roles - always known as wonderful character actors. The plot is fairly simplistic, but remember this is a film aimed at grammar school children. It's just such a relief to see a wholesome family picture with no violence, no sex, no exploding buildings.
The film will give small children a good sense of morals and ethics in a subtle way - without hitting the audience over the head with a hammer and overtly moralistic heavy handedness.

I was disappointed to see so little of Sean Bean - he's the only reason I wanted to see this film - but after his part was finished in the early portion of the film....I still was drawn in by a compelling story, narrative development and a lovely script. This film is a classic!

There are many other films which allegedly are "family pictures" but still have LOTS of violence - like "National Treasure" which got a PG rating but still had too much violence for small children (although Sean Bean is excellent in "National Treasure" also. So "Black Beauty" bills itself as a "family picture" and it actually deserves that title.

I highly recommend this movie for children of all ages!