Review of The Horse Whisperer (1998) by Catherine D — 09 Jun 2010

13-year-old Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johannson) goes horseback riding with her friend Judith one wintry morning. A few hours later she finds herself in a hospital with a partial amputation after a terrible accident on an icy road. Judith is dead, and Grace and her horse Pilgrim are both badly injured, in mind, body, and soul. Grace's mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas), a powerhouse magazine editor, decides to call all the shots, from refusing to have Pilgrim put down to researching means of putting everything to right again. This eventually leads to Tom Booker (Robert Redford), a "horse whisperer" from Montana. When he curtly refuses her request on the phone, Annie drives herself, her surly daughter, and the now-wild Pilgrim out to Big Sky country, notably leaving her supportive but distant husband (Sam Neill) behind to keep going with their Manhattan life. In Montana, everyone finds peace and contentment in the beauty of an idyllic ranch life as guests of Tom's brother and his wife (Chris Cooper and Dianne Wiest). Tom works his magic, slowly but surely restoring Pilgrim to health. Annie loses her job and mellows out enough to envision herself as a rancher's wife. Grace loses her surliness and learns how to live, love, drive, and regain hope. Eventually daddy shows up to retrieve his wayward wife, newly joyous daughter, and ride-ready horse. And they all live scenically ever after.

Rating this film is a conundrum. The scenery and cinematography are consistently beautiful, while the directing and acting are generally quite good. The problem lies in the pacing. All the emotional impact is in the first 15 minutes, and thereafter the remaining 90% of its nearly three-hour running time are scenes that must be patiently sat through. Interminably long and painfully slow are phrases that only begin to cover it...on the plus side, I did manage to make a batch of brownies while "watching" this movie. And as for the attempts at romance - well, we all see that the only real chemistry is between man and horse.

Overall, beautiful, well-made, plodding, and way too long.