El pequeño proscrito

Friendly family movie from Walt Disney, filmed entirely on-location in Mexico with a largely Mexican cast and crew, concerns runaway boy and his love for the mistreated horse he has taken with him. Directed by the estimable Roberto Gavaldón, later the filmmaker behind the 1960 cult film "Macario", who was potentially a terrific match for this material. Still, though the movie has its heart in the right place, the Hispanic text has been smoothed over for American audiences, resulting in a coy, somewhat stilted slice of white bread. Andrés Velázquez is pretty good as ten-year old Pablito, and the horse is handled well, yet the film never really generated much excitement (with Disney fans or otherwise). **1/2 from ****