‘Black Beauty’ receives 2020 update
A story so beloved it has inspired a half-dozen movie adaptations, a 2020 version of “Black Beauty” begins streaming on Disney+.
Kate Winslet offers a voiceover from the point of view of the titular horse, a mustang whose life takes her from an idyllic upbringing in the American West to a Long Island horse farm and any number of new owners.
Mackenzie Foy (“The Conjuring,” “Twilight”) plays Jo Green, the strident young woman grieving the loss of her parents, who forms an unbreakable bond with Beauty. Iain Glen (“Game of Thrones”) is John Manly, her estranged uncle, the man who brings Beauty home from the wranglers out west.
While set in what looks like the present day, complete with helicopters and pickup trucks, “Beauty” effects a certain timelessness. With a name that leaves little in doubt, John Manly spends his time on the porch of his cabin reading books of poetry. He’s willing to share his library with Jo, but she’s too embittered, a young woman wounded in ways that only a horse can heal.
It’s hard to quibble with a long-beloved tale of girl/ horse bonding and an animal character that endures mishaps and tragedies enough to fill a 19th century melodrama. Written by Anna Sewell, “Black Beauty” was published in 1877.
The transition to the modern day is half-hearted at best. And why bother messing with a beloved period piece? Would you want to watch “Little Women” in a shopping mall? “Anne of Green Gables” on Adderall?
Winslet’s voiceover is relentless and frequently overbearing. And for the most part, unnecessary. Horses are regal creatures precisely because they are silent. Leave talking horses to the sitcoms.
› From “Northern Exposure” to “Doc Martin,” television creators (and viewers) can’t get enough of medical folk becoming fish out of water in picturesque locations. Netflix begins streaming the second season of “Virgin River,” based on a series of novels by Robyn Carr. Alexandra Breckenridge stars as “Mel” Monroe, a nurse and midwife who leaves busy L.A. to relocate to a remote town in the forests of
Northern California.
Look for Annette O’Toole as Hope McCrea, the mayor of Virgin River and a not-so reliable landlord and housecleaner. O’Toole’s many credits include “Nash Bridges” and “Smallville.” She was Lana Lang in “Superman III.” She is married to Michael McKean (“Laverne & Shirley” and “Spinal Tap”). Together, they were nominated for an Academy Award for the song “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” for the 2003 mockumentary “A Mighty
Wind,” created by McKean’s frequent collaborator Christopher Guest.
› Santa suffers amnesia in “A Go! Go! Cory Carson Christmas,” streaming today on Netflix.
› An unsuccessful musician retreats to his parents’ home over the holidays in the Netflix series “Over Christmas.” From Germany.
› Netflix also launches the seasonal “Sugar Rush Christmas: Season 2,” starting today.