Running Free
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) | Release Date: June 2, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
22
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
6
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
There's no spirit of adventure to separate this one from the pack. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland 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
50
USA TodayMike Clark
It's just too soon after those silly talking dinosaurs to put up with any movie about a talking horse. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMonica Eng
It's probably best to leave talking animal stories in the care of comedic filmmakers. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
It is aimed primarily at children, and its affectionate treatment of animals is certain to please most of them. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A stunner marred by its central figure, a colt named Lucky, having been voiced (by Lukas Haas). Piovani's score is lyrical and emotionally charged, and it goes a long way toward negating the effects of the voice-over narration we're asked to accept. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
Suffers from terminal hoof-in-mouth disease. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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
30
Chicago ReaderLisa 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
20
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
Awful narration almost ruins the ghostly, gorgeous Running Free. Read full review
20
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Vacillates between cutesy Disney-style anthropomorphism and "Born Free" exoticism. Read full review
10
VarietyRobert Hofler
A profoundly disappointing attempt to reinvigorate the animal movie genre with the classic ingredients of physical poetry and mythical storytelling. Read full review
10
Film.comGemma Files
If you're looking for something child-appropriate that'll actually keep the little darlings awake for two hours straight, you'd do better...and cheaper...to just stay at home with the Discovery Channel. Read full review
10
L.A. WeeklyRon Stringer
Let horses be horses, scrap the tin-eared Lukas Haas narration. Read full review
0
Entertainment WeeklyOwen 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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