The Black Stallion Returns

"The Black Stallion Returns" is one of my favorite novels, and one of my favorite films. Readers familiar with Walter Farley's saga will note several discrepencies between the books and the films, but that certainly does not detract from the enjoyment to be derived from this film. The cinematography is spectacular, and the Black is as gorgeous as ever, played by horses who capture the true spirit of Farley's legendary stallion. Kelly Reno's skills as an actor have vastly improved in this film, and it is wonderful to see the wide variety of characters that people the Black's world. In many ways, this film is richer than its predecessor ("The Black Stallion"), particularly in its soaring soundtrack that seems to have been custom-composed for the equestrian. Viewers who enjoy this film may also be interested in "The Miracle of the White Stallions," "The Man from Snowy River," and the 1994 production of "Black Beauty."

The original was a favorite for me as a child. I think that is why i waited 20 years to see this, a sequel that I was sure would disappoint. I was wrong to wait so long to see a film that, in many ways, surpasses the original.

This amazing epic finds Alec Ramsey, the boy from the first film, traveling to the brutal and glorious Sahara desert , in search of his beautiful Arabian Stallion, who has been taken away by his original owners. Along the way Alec finds a good friend in Prince Raj, who takes the boy with him on an unforgettable quest that will lead them to the stallion, and also to a race like no other. With much attention given to small details, as well as set design and costumes, we learn the fascinating history of this very special horse. Every five years there is a great horse race in the Sahara desert, with different tribes racing their finest horses to win honour and respect from the others. A man from the Uruk tribe goes to dishonorable means to sabotage the race, while the Berber tribe, led by Prince Raj is more honorable in their methods. This film culminates in what has to be the most glorious and exciting race ever filmed, with young Alec and his best friend racing against each other, the boy for possession of his horse, and the Prince, for the honour of his people.

The film score, the cinematography, those gorgeous desert scenes all add up to an absolute classic adventure film. Perhaps this was not a commercial success because this sequel focuses more on the boy's plight, with the horse only making an appearance later into the film. Or more likely, perhaps the whole production was just too "foreign" for Western audiences back in 1983. Whatever the reason, fans of old fashioned adventure tales should give this a look. The actor who plays the teen Alec Ramsey obviously had an uncommon love for horses, and it shows in his genuine performance. Vincent Spano is great and totally believable, both in looks and performance as Raj, and the rest of the cast is fine as well. Filmed in Morrocco, and partially in Algeria lends this special film an epic look. Of course with something like this it is important to see it in it's original wide screen ratio. One of my favorite films now, it was worth that 20 year wait...

Is The Black Stallion Returns as good as the original? Not quite. The original is a masterpiece, that said this is a wonderful sequel and one of the better ones I've seen recently. The story while having a different focus than the original has some implausible and sluggish moments but many other parts are believable and touching. The script is well written, the direction is competent and the acting from Kelly Reno and Vincent Spano(and the horse) is pretty much superb. However, the best assets of The Black Stallion Returns are the sumptuous visuals and beautiful score. All in all, a wonderful sequel and movie. 9/10 Bethany Cox

"The Black Stallion Returns" is shot in 1.85:1, and I saw it in 1.33:1 because of the TV-network cut it down as usual. "The Black Stallion Returns" is a cinema-movie, you should see this on the big screen but after all, this should be done in 2.35:1 instead. This doesn't mean that the movie is bad because of the wrong format, but it would be more powerful in a wider one, as long as the cinematographer would handle it together with the director (I think they would). One of the reasons why it is shot in 1.85:1 might be that the first film was in that format too.

The story is faster and the film is shorter than it could be. After a standard opening, all gets better. And soon Alec, the main character reaches the desert, which is the reason why I wanted to see this movie. This isn't "Lawrence of Arabia" by David Lean, I know that, but the desert scenes are beautiful. And it is because of this scenes I like this movie. Everything started with photos from this film that I saw as a kid. The impression was that the desert was beautiful, or could be shown as beautiful. I should have seen "Lawrence of Arabia" already when I was younger, maybe I would have liked it even more than. For me, "The Black Stallion Returns" could have more and also slower desert scenes than it has, without getting a bit boring.

"The Black Stallion Returns" is actually shot in Morocco, North Africa. The cinematography is not poor, far from. But some of the characters could be better done. The choice of Woody Strode as Meslar was perfect, but he isn't used as good as I hoped. Alan Garfield doesn't amuse as Kurr, a villain, I had hoped that Kurr would be cooler and more menacing. Kelly Reno is a bit weak but at least okay as Alec, but Vincent Spano is cool as the Arabian prince.

The music by Georges Delerue is a bit unequal but at times very good.

The best parts of this movie are without doubts the desert scenes, including the horse race in the end (even if I think it should have been even better).

If you hate horses (why should you?) you can't like this, but otherwise it isn't that hard to enjoy this movie, even if it gets very emotional and describe the relationship between Alec and Black as close as a relation can be, which is booth fascinating and perhaps irritating. Here the direction shows what it really wants to show: emotions, admiration, love, friendship and almost worship from Alec to the Black. In that chase, the director (Robert Dalva) has succeeded.

"The Black Stallion Returns" is first of all a movie for a younger audience than me. That is why I see so many ways how it could have been even better, a more "hard core" movie with a harder, more action-filled tune and an even stronger adventure-feeling in style with perhaps my favorite from this time; "Conan the Barbarian". This would be a movie that was perhaps fitting a wider audience, or at least another.

I saw "The Black Stallion Returns" before I saw 'The Black Stallion', I think that is the best way to enjoy this sequel (it is somehow rather independent from the first one).

(Goofs:) Couldn't Kurr's Uruk men have killed the stallion instead of letting it survive or did they want it to survive? This is not clearly explained.

Rating: 6 of 10.

(1983) The Black Stallion Returns ADVENTURE

After the critical success of "The Black Stallion", the makers thought they could do this again by returning cast and crew to do the follow-up adapted by the same author who wrote the first one called the Black Stallion! The plot has Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) who's now older and little taller than he was in the 1979 film, going into another adventure to retrieve his Arabian Stallion, after being taken from him from people claiming that they were the original owners, for the purpose of using him for a race somewhere in the deserts of Casablanca! Not as subtle as the first one, nor as adventurous as one would expect to see after the first one, since they're some far fetched things happening during this kind of an adventure which can sometimes drag, meaning that you'd have to stick it out until the final 20 minutes or so, to make it all worth your while because it avoids cliches! And the final race was just as thrilling as the first movie.