The Horse Whisperer Movie Review – A Timeless Tale
The Horse Whisperer movie tells the tale of a man of great patience, faced with the task of helping a woman, a child, and their horse. Join us on a ride, and let’s find out what The Horse Whisperer Movie review has to say. We will cramp up these two hours of screentime into just a few minutes’ read where you can learn about the plot, cast, production, critics, and awards. Without further ado, let’s go!
The Horse Whisperer Movie Plot
The plot in The Horse Whisperer movie begins with teenager Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson) and her best friend, Judith (Kate Bosworth), going out to ride their horses, Pilgrim and Gulliver. It is an early winter’s morning, and as they ride up an icy slope, Gulliver slips, hits Pilgrim, and both horses fall, dragging the girls with them.
The fall takes them to a road where they get hit by a tractor-trailer. Judith and Gulliver are killed, while Grace and Pilgrim are both left severely injured. Their actions were a complete coin toss with their lives and future, similar to when not adhering to responsible gambling and going on a financial frenzy. Anyhow, let us continue with The Horse Whisperer movie review.
After the accident, Grace is left with a partially amputated right leg. Once a happy and glowing girl has become bitter and withdrawn. The gruesome event had left a mark on her horse, Pilgrim, as well. He has become uncontrollable and deeply traumatised to such an extent that some suggested he should be put down. However, Grace’s mother, Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas), refuses to allow Pilgrim to be euthanised. The strong-minded and workaholic magazine editor believes that Grace’s recovery is linked to Pilgrim’s.
Time does not heal the inner wounds of neither Grace nor Pilgrim, and Annie, desperate to find a cure, tracks down a “horse whisperer” by the name of Tom Booker (Robert Redford). Tom agrees to help the horse, but only if Grace joins them and participates in the process. The young girl reluctantly accepts the condition, and she, Pilgrim, and Annie hit the road and travel to the remote Montana mountains. There, they stay at the Booker ranch, which Tom and his brother’s family share.
Tom and Pilgrim get to know each other with time passing by, and the horse becomes calmer. Actively involving Grace in the process, The Horse Whisperer helps her overcome her trauma. Anyhow, during her time on the ranch, Annie gets to talk a lot with Tom, and they begin to develop a mutual attraction. At first, they are both reluctant to act on these feelings as Annie is married while the rider had his heart broken before.
While trying to help, Tom asks Grace to share what happened on the day of the accident. He says that getting to know what she and Pilgrim went through would help him better understand the horse’s feelings. Despite being reluctant to share at first, eventually, Grace gathers up the strength and courage to do so and tearfully describes the incident.
Just as the story seems to be getting wrapped by Hollywood’s “happy end” ribbons, Annie’s husband, Robert MacLean (Sam Neill), shows up at the ranch. With his arrival, Annie gets increasingly torn by her feelings for Tom and her love for her family. Meanwhile, with The Horse Whisperer’s help, Grace and Pilgrim overcome their trauma and even go on their first ride together since the incident.
The Horse Whisperer movie ends with Grace’s family leaving the Montana ranch. Even though Annie wishes she could remain there with Tom, she also profoundly knows that she belongs to the city, which is the exact reason why The Horse Whisperer’s wife left him. As the MacLean family is driving away from the ranch, Tom watches them go from the top of a hill.
The Film Critics – Pros and Cons
Next, in our Horse Whisperer movie review, we will examine the critics’ opinions of the production. Overall, we can agree that the public and the critics received the movie well. Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, The Horse Whisperer film was rated 74% on the Tomatometer and 72% audience score. These ratings place the American drama amongst some of the best horse racing movies and films with animals.
When looking at the critics’ reviews, we can see that most of them are pretty positive. Some refer to The Horse Whisperer movie as “a lovely piece of filmmaking” (Jeanne Aufmuth, Palo Alto Weekly) or even that it is such a compelling drama that it transports you into another world. Furthermore, experts highlight that the 1998’s film maintains a spiritual atmosphere and decent hold on personal problems; thus, it can bewitch even the most disengaged viewer.
Nevertheless, there is some negative feedback as well. For example, Los Angeles Times’ top critic, Kenneth Turan, says that “the lack of identifiable passion is The Horse Whisperer’s most vexing problem. Others consider The Horse Whisperer movie to have loads of craft and honour but never entirely take off. Nonetheless, like with anything else, people have different tastes. For example, if 80 people prefer to play roulette at the best roulette sites in the UK, there will be 20 that would prefer playing blackjack.
The Horse Whisperer Movie Cast, Ratings, and More
The Horse Whisperer movie is a 1998 American Western drama film directed by Robert Redford. It is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nicholas Evans. We must also note that the movie was released on May 15, 1998, and received predominantly positive reviews from critics and viewers. The 170 minutes long drama had a budget of $75 million and scored $186.9 million at the box office.
| 🏷️ Name: | The Horse Whisperer |
| 📅 Release Date: | Nov 10, 1998 |
| 🐴 Genres: | Drama |
| 🎥 Director: | Robert Redford |
| 📜 Writer: | Nick Evans, Eric Roth, Richard LaGravenese |
| 🎬 Producer: | Patrick Markey, Robert Redford |
| ⭐ Stars: | Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Cooper |
| ⏲️ Runtime: | 2h 48m |
| 📒 IMDB: | 6.6/10 |
| 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes: | 74% |
| 🧱 Metacritic: | 65/100 |
Before we move on, we must talk about The Horse Whisperer movie cast. First off, the main male protagonist of the film is played by the director and producer of the movie, Robert Redford. In addition, The Horse Whisperer movie cast consists of other famous and prominent actors such as Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Cooper. Their splendid performances completely fleshed out the movie, turning it into the marvel it is.
Watch The Horse Whisperer Movie Online
As nearly every other movie ever produced, you can watch The Horse Whisperer movie online. Thanks to the digital age, instead of going to video stores or retro cinemas, all you must do if you want to see The Horse Whisperer film, is to open your browser, make your way to a legit streaming platform, and watch it from there.
Currently, there are three licensed platforms that offer the movie, namely Vudu, Prime Video, Apple TV. Here, we must note that regardless of which streaming service you prefer, each one will give you the option to choose if you want to purchase or rent The Horse Whisperer movie.
- Vudu
- Prime Video
- Apple TV
Also, if you are a big fan of The Horse Whisperer movie, or films with horses in general, we want to note that you will be able to find and watch other great titles while scrolling through any of these streaming services. For example, you can check out the Let it Ride movie, as it is a great combination of the relationship between a horse and a man and the thrill of the race.
The Horse Whisperer Movie Awards and Nominations
Overall, The Horse Whisperer movie has received 19 nominations and won 4 awards between 1998 and 1999. One of the most famous nominations was the song “A Soft Place to Fall” by Allison Moorer and Gwil Owen. Their piece was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Another remarkable nomination of The Horse Whisperer film was for “Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases”. Of course, the American Society of Cinematographers’ nominee was the cinematographer Robert Richardson.
| 🏆 BMI Film & TV Awards 1999 | Thomas Newman |
| 🏆 Bogey Awards, Germany 1998 | The Horse Whisperer |
| 🏆 Golden Screen, Germany 1998 | The Horse Whisperer |
| 🏆 Young Artist Awards 1999 | Scarlett Johansson |
As you can see in the table above, The Horse Whisperer movie won four prestigious awards. As the results speak for themselves, the film was deeply loved by critics on the old continent, resulting in two awards in Germany in 1998, namely the Bogey Awards and Golden Screen. During the following year, The Horse Whisperer film scored two more victories, earning it the BMI Film Music Award and the Young Star Awards. The latter award was given to the young Scarlett Johansson for best performance by a young actress in a drama film.
The Horse Whisperer Movie Review – Conclusion
We have reached the part of The Horse Whisperer movie review where we have to draw our conclusion. Based on all we have said so far, we can agree that The Horse Whisperer movie is one of the most emblematic American horse drama films. Furthermore, the film covers exciting topics such as the endless conflict between life in the city and “on the field”. Ultimately, when you have a well-written and profoundly emotional story told by an assembly of remarkable actors, you know you’re in for a treat.
Frequently Asked Questions
To serve as an exposition to our Horse Whisperer movie review, we thought it would be a great idea to look at some of the most frequently asked questions. In addition to the most common queries, you will also find answers based on our research on The Horse Whisperer movie!
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