by
Kristin Battestella
Billed
as Return to Snowy River stateside
and known elsewhere around the globe as The Man from Snowy
River II, this 1988 sequel is
lacking a lot of the charm and storytelling done so well in The
Man from Snowy River.
Fortunately, all the equine visuals and Down Under scenery of its
1982 predecessor remain for an entertaining family adventure.
After
proving his worth and becoming the famed Man from Snowy River, Jim
Craig (Tom Burlinson) has continued working on his own keep and
gathering the wild brumby horse herds to train, sell, and eventually
breed on his own mountain station. Jim also hopes to reunite with his
love Jessica Harrison (Sigrid Thorton) despite her father's (Brian
Dennehy) misgivings over what he feels is too low a match. The elder
Harrison is more interested in winning horse races and doing business
with influential, strong arm local bankers trying to push out the
resident mountain men. Horse thefts and accusations escalate, and Jim
must risk taming the Stallion leading the brumby mob, once again
taking matters into his own hands to win the day.
No,
Return to Snowy River is
not as beloved as the 1982 release, and the Disney take over
tone may be the culprit. Only a few sentences of catching up elude to
the first film with an unsure amount of time having passed between
them. Extraneous, ho hum, would be humorous townsfolk and cardboard
villains bloat a short 99 minutes that's slow to start and perhaps
confusing to those who haven't seen the original. From where did all
these barons holding finances over the previously top of the mark
Harrison come? The to and fro double talk doesn't explain much, and
pedestrian girl riding in a horse race side plots lead nowhere along
with a shoehorned in love triangle failing at its attempt to create
conflict. Social plots on gentry versus mountain people are too
muddled for the family friendly scale of Return to Snowy River,
and overall, it feels like
Disney's vision for the picture was that of a clichéd remake rather
than a true what happens next sequel. Fortunately, returning
producer and director Geoff Burrowes rectifies the villain
comeuppance with emotional horse scenes, trademark equine action, and
the character moments the audience came to see.
This
time around, Tom Burlinson's Jim Craig is a little older, more
confident, and self assured in his horse mastery. The audience knows
these unlikable snobs with ulterior motives vying for Jessica's
affection are no match for the genuine romance even while some of the
uneven story hurts the character. Jim's owning half of Spur's gold
mine is retconned and despite becoming a hero in The Man from
Snowy River, he has to prove himself again to inferior jerks.
Thankfully, Jim hasn't changed, and its morally pleasing to see a man
working hard, earning his keep, bidding his time, and remaining true
even as the world moves on and not necessarily for the better. Return
to Snowy River takes an
hour before we get to the heaviest emotion and character development,
but the understanding looks and bittersweet moments between Jim and
his horses are the loveliest – if no less upsetting – scenes in
the picture. Though beautiful as ever, Sigrid Thorton is styled a bit
too eighties anachronistic for Return to Snowy River with
curly hair, contemporary dialogue, and now being informally called
Jess. It's distracting when extras behind her are more appropriately
period while she stands in the forefront without the expected hats or
capes depending on how ladylike she is supposed to be from scene to
scene. Instead of having a strong, progressive female character, the
problematic plot makes Jessica's allegiance to her father or Jim too
wishy washy. She's upset that it took so long for Jim to return but
she argues in his favor against her father, spreading discord or
blossoming romance more to advance the run time or convince the
viewer when the charming one on one scenes between the young couple
are dandy without all the round and round.
It's
an unusual change to replace Kirk Douglas with Brian Dennehy (Cocoon)
as Harrison, and Dennehy never has
the opportunity to use his elder gravitas and fully
make the character his own in Return to Snowy River thanks
to rinse repeat daughter riding horses protests, his insistence she
learn the ranch business, and more all over the place motivations.
Amid the dress up to attract a suitor demands, muddled
financial exposition, and gruff exterior lies conflicting tender
affections and hidden warmth – not to mention mistakes in his own
The Man from Snowy River history. Now Harrison's money comes
from a gold mine rather than a horse racing gamble, yet Jim's stocks
and wealth still aren't good enough for Harrison. Wedding
clarifications are inexplicably excised from this stateside Disney
edition, and offscreen reconciliations further cheapen the character,
leaving the feeling that most of Dennehy's strength was left on the
cutting room floor.
Fortunately,
the divine sunsets, stallion silhouettes, and majestic equine
photography in Return to Snowy River are
tough to beat. Bright outdoor filming and intercut stallion
editing have surprising personality while dune landscapes, mountain
vistas, and forested rides add to the parasols, top hats, and
Victorian feelings even if the lace and turn of the century balloon
sleeves are overdone with that shiny satin and eighties cheating. The
interior designs, however, appear dark with soft focused camera
shots, and despite Disney influences, the film looks older than it is
and feels more low budget than it was. Unlike the allegedly superior
Australian releases, the bare bones Region 1 DVD has mismatched
subtitles and an odd, jumping print that plays with its pan and scan,
compromising some sequences that already don't live up to the
original. The familiar, classic theme also feels underused, but new
epic scoring anchors the heroic mood and surely difficult to film
horsework. Naturally, opening gunshots, animal injuries, and spoiler
warning horse deaths will be difficult for super young viewers. Hell,
that scene still gets me
every time, and it's ironic how films made to celebrate horsemanship
remain clouded with production rumors of real on set accidents
and fatalities.
Viewers
don't have to see The Man from Snowy River in
order to watch this Return – in
fact, back to back marathoning may illume the sequel's flaws further,
and audiences expecting the ingenuity or grit of its
predecessor may be disappointed in the confusing reset tone and
overall inferiority of Return to Snowy River. However,
Return to Snowy River can
still be enjoyed if you know the characters' history. Separating this
outing's recreated ridings, horse pursuits, and thrilling family
adventure and not comparing it to the original is the best way to
savor Return to Snowy River.
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