I was prepared for a snoozer with this one but found
it wasn’t too bad. This is esentially a family/childrens flick. Based on the book of
the same name by Anna Sewell which I’m sure you all know is about a horse named Black
Beauty.
The film is narrated throughout by the Black Beauty himself. Starting out with his
birth and childhood and then moving into his new life as a colt at a beatiful country
homestead in England.
The rest of the film tells of his being sold to different people and the terrible ways
in which he is treated which aside from one owner seem to get progressively worse.
Until in the end he finds his original keeper and goes back to a leisurely life of
green pastures.
There really isn’t a lot to the plot but it’s a good wholesome kids movie
really, and you can’t expect it to be terribly complex.
So how does this transfer hold up?
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VIDEO
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is for the most part very
average. There are consisitent problems with grain and ailiasing throughout. The shadow
detail also seems to suffer because of the grain problems giving a little less detail then
could have been achieved with a better quality transfer.
However to compliment this the colour palette is quite brilliant. With beautiful rish
warm country tones and deep and bright country greens, this has a wonderfull calming
effect until the scenery changes to the more dull and grim colours.
The layer change at 35.07 is well placed and does not interrupt the film at all.
AUDIO
The Dolby 2.0 surround track is also a little on the average side at
times. Dialogue was clear at all times but seemed to be a little flat and limited to the
centre channel.
The surround channels and bass channel alike were used
thinly and only really kicked in with a little support to some effects and to support the
score.
Danny Elfman gives a nice score but I expected better from someone with this talent.
Most of the score seemed to be very repetitious of the main theme and generally
didn’t seem to deviate from this much at all.
EXTRAS
Theatrical Trailer
OVERALL
This is a good childrens film and a nice Sunday night family film but something I would go
out of my way to see. In any event the transfer is quite average.
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
7/10 grainy |
| SOUND Quality |
7/10 flat and lifeless |
| EXTRAS |
2/10
where’s the rest? |
| OVERALL |
6.5/10 not
anything to get excited about. |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD909 (via S-Video)
Receiver: Yamaha DTS RX-V595a (Sweeeeet)
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
- Reviewed 13th January 2001
*Black Beauty jpeg files for
internet promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Warner
Home Video
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