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DVD REVIEW FOR
"ALL THE PRETTY HORSES"

(2000) (Matt Damon, Penelope Cruz) (PG-13)

Length Screen Format(s) Languages Subtitles Sound Sides
117 minutes Letterbox (2.35:1)
16x9 - Widescreen
English English
French
Dolby Digital 5.1 1

PLOT & PARENTAL REVIEW

AUDIO/VIDEO ELEMENTS:
Beyond a slight pixelated look in certain scenes and the presence of a few film artifacts (scratches and such), the picture image here looks rather good, particularly when various scenes are set in the brightly lit outdoors. There, they look quite sharp and feature decent color reproduction. Some of the indoor scenes, however, look a tad murky, but not to the point of being distracting. As far as the audio is concerned, the score and closing song sound great, while there are plenty of effective sound and spatial effects (horses galloping by, thunderstorm and rain, etc.) to keep things interesting from an aural perspective and they nicely complement the visuals and story.
EXTRAS:
  • Scene selection/Jump to any scene.
  • Brief filmographies for selected cast and crew members.
  • Theatrical trailers for this film, "Legends of the Fall," "Dogma" and "All About My Mother."
  • Brief production notes on glossy case insert.
  • COMMENTS:
    Due to the disparities in their forms, one can rarely, if ever, make a movie that's completely faithful to a novel and/or will satisfy all of the fans of the original literary work. With that in mind, most filmmakers - starting with the screenwriter who tries to figure out how to construct the adaptation and then the director and rest of the crew who must translate those words into moving images - try to find a good compromise and hope to appease and entertain fans of the novel as well as viewers not familiar with it.

    In regards to director Billy Bob Thornton and screenwriter Ted Tally's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's best-selling novel, "All the Pretty Horses," I fall into the latter category, having neither read nor knowing much about the novel. As such, I can't attest as to how fans of the 1992 work will respond, but in the end, it might not be that different from viewers who are catching the story for the first time here.

    That's because this film - that's gorgeous to behold for both the cast and scenery but often disjointed and less then involving from a story or character standpoint - is yet another example of the mismatch between the two storytelling mediums. Although I'm not familiar with either the amount or arrangement of material in McCarthy's novel, it's not presented in what many would call a smooth or harmonious fashion here.

    Reports have it that Thornton ("A Simple Plan," "Sling Blade") initially delivered a four-hour cut of the film from the screenplay by Tally ("The Silence of the Lambs," "Mission to Mars"), and while it may have been faithful to the source material, it was simply too long to be unleashed on unsuspecting, time-conscious viewers. The resulting two-hour version consequently has a noticeable, abridged feel to it. As such, much of the film feels rather episodic and that disjointed nature prevents it from maintaining any semblance of rhythm or momentum, let alone sweeping away the viewer by what should have been a more congruous story.

    That's not to say that the individual scenes are bad. To the contrary, many of them are quite good. It's just that once we get into them, they abruptly end and then move on to the next scene, as if having to adhere to a timetable designed to cram the novel's entire story into a preset amount of cinematic time.

    As a result, many of the film's important scenes and themes don't connect as well with the viewer as they should. For instance, a scene set in a Mexican prison that may have worked rather well in the novel (if present) due to the appropriate time given to it, simply doesn't hold much resonance here as the characters are in and out of the prison too fast to elicit the appropriate response from the viewer.

    Likewise, the pivotal romance between the characters played by Matt Damon ("The Legend of Bagger Vance," "The Talented Mr. Ripley") and Penelope Cruz ("Woman on Top," "All About My Mother") doesn't get the amount of time it needs to work. While the two are great to look at, the chemistry between them never really gets the chance to get cooking.

    While it may have in the novel and the four-hour cut, here the two meet, fall into bed and are then split up before we get a chance to root for the romance to begin. Not surprisingly, what are supposed to be heartfelt moments regarding the two end up surprisingly void of just that. While such problems don't knock this rider from its horse, they do result in a bumpy ride that's not as pleasant and engaging as it should have been.

    As far as the performances are concerned, Damon seems perfectly cast for the role and character, and does a good job notwithstanding the aforementioned problems. Cruz, while gorgeous to behold, doesn't fare as well simply because her character is underdeveloped and she isn't given much of a chance to do anything with it.

    Both Henry Thomas ("Suicide Kings," "E.T.") and Lucas Black ("Crazy in Alabama," "Sling Blade") are good in their respective roles, while Julio Oscar Mechoso ("Blue Streak," "Krippendorf's Tribe") adequately fills the need for an antagonist. Meanwhile, Ruben Blades ("Cradle Will Rock," "The Milagro Beanfield War") and Miriam Colon ("Gloria," "Lone Star") are also good, but feel somewhat shortchanged as far as time on the screen.

    Overall, the film is clearly easy to watch from a visual standpoint, as it contains all sorts of eye candy from both a human and geographical perspective. It's just too bad that the film can't shake its disjointed and episodic feel that prevents it from being as cohesive as most viewers will probably be expecting.

    All the Pretty Horses is now available for purchase by clicking here.

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