My summary line, voiced by the picture's title character, was meant to relate to the general community of horses, but I'm not so sure it couldn't apply to us humans as well. At least up to a certain point; for a good part of lives we're all 'stuck' with family or acquaintances that might not have made the cut if we had anything to say about it.
In deference to and with all due respect to other reviewers for the picture here who absolutely loved it, I have to say I just couldn't get very invested in the story. Alan Cumming, the voice of Black Beauty was very monotone in his delivery and along with the pacing of the picture I found myself drifting away every so often, unable to concentrate on the story. I was watching with my granddaughter and even she reverted to playing with some object or other that kept her more occupied.
What I did pick up on though was a valuable idea that families watching together could share with their own youngsters. Black Beauty lived through a variety of experiences, some happy and some sad, and those events could serve as important life lessons moms and dads could discuss with their kids as a way to bridge the ups and downs of a variety of relationships, be it family, school or community. Individual vignettes in the story can be useful in helping young kids understand that life has it's trials and tribulations and that unhappy times eventually pass. And perhaps most importantly, as Black Beauty understands - "It's good people that make good places."
In deference to and with all due respect to other reviewers for the picture here who absolutely loved it, I have to say I just couldn't get very invested in the story. Alan Cumming, the voice of Black Beauty was very monotone in his delivery and along with the pacing of the picture I found myself drifting away every so often, unable to concentrate on the story. I was watching with my granddaughter and even she reverted to playing with some object or other that kept her more occupied.
What I did pick up on though was a valuable idea that families watching together could share with their own youngsters. Black Beauty lived through a variety of experiences, some happy and some sad, and those events could serve as important life lessons moms and dads could discuss with their kids as a way to bridge the ups and downs of a variety of relationships, be it family, school or community. Individual vignettes in the story can be useful in helping young kids understand that life has it's trials and tribulations and that unhappy times eventually pass. And perhaps most importantly, as Black Beauty understands - "It's good people that make good places."