Running Free

Name: Running Free
Genre: Adventure, Drama, History, War, Family
Released: June 2, 2000
Duration: 81 min
Rating: 22

2000

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Generally unfavorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 6 Ratings

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5.0	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 6 Ratings

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Running Free

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) | Release Date: June 2, 2000 | G

Summary: The film reveals the story of how herds of wild horses came to Namibia's vast desert -- and what it says about humans in their relationship to animals.

Director: Sergey Bodrov

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, History, War, Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 81 min

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Critic Reviews

Mike Clark

It's just too soon after those silly talking dinosaurs to put up with any movie about a talking horse. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Maitland McDonagh

Bodrov's staging and cutting does a perfectly good job conveying their anthropomorphized feelings and motives; the spoken drivel is just a distraction. The film's human characters are largely inconsequential. Read full review

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

There's no spirit of adventure to separate this one from the pack. Read full review

Roger Ebert

I seem to be developing a rule about talking animals: They can talk if they're cartoons or Muppets, but not if they're real. Read full review

Lisa Alspector

The majesty of the landscape and the sweetness of a plot strand about the horse learning survival skills from a 12-year-old girl might have been more intriguing without the cloying voice-over. Read full review

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Awful narration almost ruins the ghostly, gorgeous Running Free. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

This may be the first talking-animal movie in which the critter hero seems to have been body-snatched by a commentator from C-SPAN. Read full review

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User Reviews

Aesthesia

Jul 26, 2016

This movie is pretty terrible. There is a painful narration throughout, which is heavily outdone by the performance of the animal "actors".The human acting all-around is terrible. The human characters are practically body props anyway. They may as well be inanimate objects.
There's a racistThis movie is pretty terrible. There is a painful narration throughout, which is heavily outdone by the performance of the animal "actors".The human acting all-around is terrible. The human characters are practically body props anyway. They may as well be inanimate objects.
There's a racist horse(Caesar) who is ironically and stereotypically chosen to be a forced-feeling arch-nemesis just because he's black-- talk about cognitive dissonance. The human characters remark how mean he is, but he's actually quite well-behaved except for the parts when he has to act out awkwardly-directed racist outbursts, which honestly feel completely out of character for such a well-mannered stud. He seems to only exist to give the hero(Lucky) someone to fight against. The hero is so wooden that this, and the awful narration, combine to make him unlikable. His story becomes a droll that almost feels punishing to have to sit through. The only half-done female horse character(Beauty) is basically there just to give him a love interest. There is almost zero development for her character and why she matters to Lucky, or how they became so devoted to each other. Lucky's grand climax scene culminates in some terrible, rubbery CGI, that's like having a tapeworm in your pre-teen years: It only lasts briefly, but it ruins any growth that is trying to be made. Overall, this movie is lazy and cheesy. It could only have been good if it was bad enough to be good, but being an unambitious creation, it just coasts on "incredibly cringey" and "dull". This will only do if you have a young child who is a horse enthusiast, and even then, Black Beauty is a classic piece of literature with a much better message and a superior movie.… Expand

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Orville

Sep 4, 2005

Narration is simply wretched.

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Erin

Sep 4, 2005

Lukas Haas' narration is perhaps the most atrocious experience a moviegoer could ever hope to endure. A "must skip", unless you're into silent colour films. Anthropomorphic elements are irritating, and border on profoundly disturbing. Show to your children if you wish to stunt Lukas Haas' narration is perhaps the most atrocious experience a moviegoer could ever hope to endure. A "must skip", unless you're into silent colour films. Anthropomorphic elements are irritating, and border on profoundly disturbing. Show to your children if you wish to stunt their development.… Expand

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