Academy Award(R)-winner Robert Redford (Best Director, 1980, ORDINARY PEOPLE) stars with Adademy Award(R)-nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress, 1996, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) in this landmark epic adapated from one of the most acclaimed novels of our time! After a devastating riding accident, a young girl and her beloved horse are both left with serious physical and emotional scars. Determined to help, the girl’s desperate mother (Thomas) puts her busy, big-city life on hold and travels west to seek out the “Horse Whisperer.” When she meets this rugged, down-to-earth rancher (Redford), she discovers his extraordinary gift with animals also touches the lives of the people around him! Featuring Hollywood favorites Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK) and Oscar(R)-winner Dianne Wiest (Best Supporting Actress, 1994, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY) in a superb cast — critics and moviegoers alike were captivated by this powerful motion picture event!Although it’s best viewed on a big theatrical screen to take full advantage of Robert Richardson’s breathtaking widescreen cinematography, it seems likely that most people will see this classy romance in the comfort of their own homes. Adapted from the bestseller by Nicholas Evans and directed by Robert Redford, the film did respectable business at the box-office, but it was too sprawling and too soapy to be a bona fide hit. Redford stars as the title character, a Montana rancher named Tom Booker, who possesses the specialized talent of healing traumatized horses through careful and affectionate rehabilitation. He gets his most challenging case when he’s sought out by a fast-lane New York magazine editor (Kristin Scott Thomas, in a role modeled after former New Yorker editor Tina Brown) whose daughter (Scarlett Johansson) was injured and traumatized by an accident that nearly killed her favorite horse. When mother, daughter, and horse arrive at Booker’s ranch, the big-city editor falls in love with the serene rancher and faces the painful decision of whether to stay in Montana or return to her husband (Sam Neill) in New York. Some may find this to be much ado about nothing, and comparisons to The Bridges of Madison County are inevitable, but Redford’s directorial approach offers the kind of graceful stature, tenderness, and intelligence required to elevate the simple story. The film takes all the time it needs to let its characters heal and make their important decisions, and that alone makes it a refreshing alternative to the frantic pace of most big-studio productions. –Jeff Shannon
Buy “The Horse Whisperer” For Only $6.24
February 22, 2006
#1
I just read The Divide by the author of the Horse Whisperer, and I wanted to share my opinion of the Horse Whisperer.
I did not read the book; I saw the movie, a couple of years ago. I just remember it being very hoakie, one of the worst movies I had ever seen. I know that it drew some critical acclaim and that it was popular with the public, but I did not share this enthusiasm. Don’t waste your time on this ridiculous movie.
February 22, 2006
#2
i’m extremely happy we rented this instead of bought it ..
This has to possibly be the worse movie out of every horse movie i’ve seen so far. The characters, i think, are pretty dim. Nice try on being a redneck, there. The only part that i actually got into was the beginning to where she gets injured .. then i thought it started going pretty downhill. they don’t pay any attention to Pilgrim’s markings there .. he’ll have a huge star, a little star, not really even a star and no star. You could think they would’ve put more effort into the movie, but i guess not. The horse shows some emotions and some of the things are alright, but other parts .. are just .. unrealistic. I wouldn’t rent the movie ever again, i grit my teeth at it, its my opinion that you move to a better movie before deciding to spend your money on this …
February 23, 2006
#3
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.
February 23, 2006
#4
“The Horse Whisperer” is for garage sale addicts who get rained out some weekend. Much of the character development, sub-themes, plot sequence and even dialogue is thinly disguised rehash of Redford’s earlier movie “The Electric Horseman”. “TEH” was good, or at least Fun, because it was fresh. But repackaging a lot of it to make “The Horse Whisperer” turned it into refried beans. “Whisperer” is even worse because quite a bit of the main plot simply defies all credibility. The supposed epiphaney of the unconvincing “family’ is so hokey and disingenious it should have somehow been filmed in crayon, not Technicolor. It did as well as it did at the box office for only four reasons. It had a large promotional budget, it had Redford’s name attached, it had the word “horse” in the title, and there are plenty of garage sale addicts here. Get “City Slickers” instead. The theme is about the same, the characters are more interesting and it has some funny parts.
February 23, 2006
#5
Read the book, don’t waste your time with the slop that they call a movie- if you’ve read the book, you know they did a terrible job making the movie. It doesn’t even deserve the one star- but I had to give it at least that to rate it.