Black Beauty (2020)

Beauty is separated from her mother and taken across the country to be "broken" and sold, and she feels guilty because she believes she was the reason her wild herd was found and rounded up by men with lassos and helicopters. Jo's parents were killed in a car accident and she, too, is alone and emotionally wounded when she shows up at the stables where her uncle and Beauty live. Beauty is wild and it's hinted she won't survive if she isn't tamed. When John first tries to ride her, Beauty takes off galloping, knocking John off and dragging him along the ground with his foot stuck in the stirrup. In another scene, Georgina digs holes into Beauty's side with her spurs and pushes her in a race until she falls and hurts her leg. Teen riders make fun of Jo for living and working at the stables, saying she smells bad. Jo pushes one girl into a pile of dirty hay. The stables catch fire and Jo runs in to save the horses. Beauty is sold to a man who rescues people lost in the wilderness, and she has brushes with danger and death, including walking on a cliff's edge and saving people from a flooded river. She nearly dies of cold. She's sold again for hard labor and is mistreated by different owners. She sees her former stable mates suffering a similar fate, and one dies.

Some teen girls find George attractive and try unsuccessfully to flirt with him. He's interested in Jo and asks her on a picnic date. She finds him "nice and smart and very handsome." They share a kiss at the end of the film when they're a couple.

"Sucks."

Adults drink champagne at an outdoor event and Mr. Winthrop asks Mrs. Winthrop how many she's had. She replies "just enough."

Parents need to know that this adaptation of Anna Sewell's 1877 classic novel Black Beauty is emotionally taxing, with the central horse suffering abuse, loss, and danger. The human characters, too, find themselves in perilous situations, including being dragged, chased, thrown and kicked by horses, nearly drowning in a flooding river, and risking their own lives to pull horses out of a burning stable. There's also emotional intensity throughout. Both the horse, Beauty, and her human soulmate, Jo (Mackenzie Foy), have suffered the loss of their parents and find themselves alone, their spirits nearly broken. Teen riders make fun of Jo for living and working at the stables, saying she smells bad. When Beauty is sold off to a series of different owners, she's put to hard labor, mistreated, and nearly worked to death more than once. Some of these scenes are quite sad; cruelty to animals can be very difficult to watch. That said, the film, told mostly from the horse's perspective, ultimately shows a clear respect and admiration for the animals, and it conveys positive messages of loyalty, family, perseverance, resilience, and courage. It ends on an uplifting note.

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