Black Beauty

Don't watch with young kids. this movie has haunted me throughout my years of adolescence. it's terrifying. I genuinely thought I made it all up and it was just a nightmare, until I googled it.

Amazing that they could get so much of the original Anna Sewell novel into such a short video. Really captures the main story of the young horse Black Beauty growing up in Victorian England. Soft-pedals the sadness, cruelty and harshness of a horse's life depicted in Sewell's book. But still tells a realistic and compassionate story. The animation is colorful, low-budget Asian studio style, verging on low-quality anime. The character design is exaggerated, but appropriate for kids. The handful of songs are soft rock or pop anthems with simple, repetitive positive messages. My kid was singing along and enjoyed everything about this video.

If I had to comprise a top 5 of my favourite Jetlag animations it would consist of Heidi, The Magic Gift of the Snowman, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and this(I do have fond memories of Leo the Lion and look forward to re-watching it soon), with my least favourites(though neither are necessarily bad) being A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, Jungle Book and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. What I love about this Black Beauty was like the book does and versions like the 1994 film and the 1975 series the story never fails to charm and move me. The writing is again simple, but not overly-so, instead it is of an overall sweet and heart-warming tone, while the animation is overall vibrant and smooth with the character designs less stiff than they can be. And the music right from the whimsical incidental music to the three obligatory but beautiful songs(the best being Hold Your Head High, mainly because of its inspiring message) is memorable and doesn't feel formulaic in the least. All in all, really charming, Leo the Lion might overtake it for the top 5 Jetlag list but whatever happens Jetlag's Black Beauty will always be one of their better efforts. 9/10 Bethany Cox