The Black Stallion Returns (1983)

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Follow-up to the acclaimed 1979 film, regarding a young American lad in the 1940s who bonds with an Arabian stallion while shipwrecked on an island, picks up where its predecessor left off. The boy, having won a championship race while riding the Black, has his horse stolen by a sheik who claims the horse is actually his. Following the horse thieves, the kid stows away on a plane headed for Casablanca, where he learns the Black will be entered in a new competition. Although the horse is the same (except for the racing shots) and the kid (Kelly Reno) is the same, director Carol Ballard from the first film is missing, and one can sense almost immediately that "The Black Stallion Returns" is without Ballard's dreamy pace and caressing images (here, Robert Dalva sets up individual scenes with a ham-fisted directness that makes the whole enterprise seem perfunctory, and he has no talent whatsoever with actors). Since the story is a washout, there's nothing to occupy one's interest except for the technical accomplishments, including Carlo di Palma's fine, if inexpressive, cinematography and Georges Delerue's lovely score. As for the performances, Reno doesn't have a professional actor's polish (which is both pro and con), but Allen Goorwitz (Garfield), playing the sheik's competitor for the Black (an Arab named Kurr!), is hopelessly if amusingly miscast as the proverbial cackling-villain; Vincent Spano (as Moroccan an actor as money could buy) is equally out-of-place as Reno's desert friend, while Teri Garr returns in a walk-on as Reno's mother (it's even less of a cameo than she had the first time). Not terrible, certainly, but a turgid adventure, trotting out aged stereotypes and a formula finale. *1/2 from ****

A great family film, about a boy from the U.S.A. and a horse from Arabia. The boy meets and befriends Arabs and Muslims and rides the horse in a grueling Arab marathon horse race.What is most important about this film is that it is that rare gem: a Hollywood film that shows Arabs and Muslims realistically: as human beings, instead of depicting them as terrorists or fanatics, which is what Hollywood usually does (see the documentary "Reel Bad Arabs" for more about that topic). After all, the reality is that most Muslims are not terrorists or fanatics.This film helps people to appreciate ethnic diversity, instead of hating what is different... therefore, unlike many media portrayals of Arabs and Muslims, the film helps to increase peace and harmony in the world.

The moderate financial success of the excellent original 'Black Stallion' movie almost guaranteed a sequel considering the series of novels of available source material.Unfortunately, the absence of Carroll Ballard's unique vision reduce this effort to a by-the-numbers horse-and-boy adventure story which is likely to be of interest to children only. So, we get a welcome return of 'The Black' and Alec Ramsey, but sadly, the magic is mostly gone.I have only read the first few pages of the book 'The Black Stallion'. It is obvious that the book is a good children's' story and that Mr Farley's legacy has been to encourage reading in several generations of American children. I suspect that this sequel movie, with its more conventional storytelling approach is closer to Mr Farley's works than the first movie, but this does not make for memorable cinema.Mr Ballard must have turned this one down, because I can't imagine that he was not offered the director's chair given the reception the first movie received. Maybe he didn't like the 'action movie' script? He seems to be very particular about the movies he makes.Performances here are generally lacklustre and there is one particularly bad hammy supporting actor turn - if you've seen this, you know who I mean.One part of me can't help but wish that they hadn't bothered with this. It doesn't spoil the original exactly, but the excellence of the first 'Black Stallion' movie so far outshines this effort that you wonder quite what the point of this was, other than a quick cash-in at the box-office.One point of excellence - Georges Delerue's theme 'Alec and The Black Stallion' is a wonderful soaring score and could have been a welcome addition to the original movie soundtrack.Your kids will probably enjoy this. Your mind will probably wander...Greg

"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.