L'indomptable

The three best things about "Man From Snowy River" were 1) The widescreen vistas 2) Kirk Douglas, especially as Spur 3) The music. Well, one of of three is not so good (though I do understand the Australian release was in Widescreen) The standard 35 (on the US DVD, at least) really detracts from the magnificent vistas that made "The Man From Snowy River" such a joy to watch (and helped disguise its relatively low budget). However, the most disastrous mistake that nearly undoes the movie is eliminating the "Spur" character and recasting "Harrison" with Brian Dennehy instead of Kirk Douglas. My gosh, are you telling me Kirk Douglas was not available SOMETIME during the SIX years between "Man From Snowy River" and "Return to..."? I also heard that Kirk Douglas was uniformly disliked by the original cast. If that is true, why not at least cast an actor with the same type of INTENSITY as Kirk Douglas; right off hand, I can think of three: Richard Widmark, Charlton Heston and James Coburn. Any of these three actors could play BOTH "Harrison" and "Spur". If the writers insisted on "killing off" "Spur," they could then have least had one of these actors play him in flashbacks or dreams, as "Spur" really brought life to the first film. As it is, Dennehy plays "Harrison" so differently than Douglas, it took me nearly an hour to get used to the change.

I really hope to one day see the widescreen version of "Return to Snowy River" to see how much the process improves the pacing of the film, particularly since the plotting itself is tighter than the original. As it is, "Return to Snowy River" comes across as a bad knock-off of the original. I give "Return to Snowy River" a weak "6".

Pointless sequel.

I don't hate 'The Man from Snowy River II', but there's nothing I truly liked about it either. It spends the first 45 minutes dragging out the love squabble between Jim and Jessica, for no reason as it's blatantly obvious where it's all going - yet they decide to do a will they/wont they for a huge chunk of the film. Once that gets sorted, it does get a tad better. Still, the premise isn't that great at all.

Cast-wise it's OK, even with the sizeable absence of Kirk Douglas; who played a dual role in the original. Despite Douglas not reappearing, the character of Harrison does return - with Brian Dennehy. Should've killed him off instead to be honest, story would've felt more different and fresher in my opinion. Meanwhile, Tom Burlinson (Jim) and Sigrid Thornton (Jessica) are, again, decent.

Quite interesting that Disney decided to pick up the sequel. In the opening scene or two there's a kid involved, which made me fear they were going to fully dumb it down to be family friendly with a bunch of children onscreen. Thankfully, they don't. That, unfortunately, doesn't stop it being an average film.

An excellent follow up to a great movie. It's not just a sequel riding coat tails. Though Harrison is played by a different actor, Dennehy does a nice job of filling Kirk Douglas' shoes in this role. Full of passion - not just the love type.

i didn't think this this sequel to The Man From Snowy River was that great.i thought it was too drawn out.plus,it was fairly heavy on the romance angle,which isn't my cup of tea.Tom Burlinson returns as Jim Craig,the title character in the first movie.Sigrid Thornton returns as his love interest.Kurt Douglas played her father,Harrison,in the original.Brian Denehey plays that role in this movie.this is not the worst movie i have seen,but it wasn't as good as i'd hoped.still,just like the first one,there is some very beautiful scenery,and a great musical score.Burlinson and Thornton are both decent actors,at least in this movie.Dennehy is also good.for me,Return to Snowy River is a 5/10

it is not easy to say why this film seems real special. all is well known, many Hallmark films are the same mix of romance and drama, the characters are well known from so many films of genre, the heroism and the Manichean confrontation are not original. maybe, the performance of Brian Dennehy and the next-door-boy of Tom Burlison are the pillars of interest. and, sure, the memories about classic westerns, doing to ignore than it is an Australian film. short, a softy entertainment. with the expected love story - impossible, off course, and the moral lesson.