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Running Free
Metascore
22 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 15
  3. Negative: 9 out of 15
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  1. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    50
    There's no spirit of adventure to separate this one from the pack.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Monica Eng
    50
    It's probably best to leave talking animal stories in the care of comedic filmmakers.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Stack
    50
    It is aimed primarily at children, and its affectionate treatment of animals is certain to please most of them.
  4. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    50
    It's just too soon after those silly talking dinosaurs to put up with any movie about a talking horse.
  5. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    Bodrov's staging and cutting does a perfectly good job conveying their anthropomorphized feelings and motives; the spoken drivel is just a distraction. The film's human characters are largely inconsequential.
  6. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    40
    A stunner marred by its central figure, a colt named Lucky, having been voiced (by Lukas Haas). Piovani's score is lyrical and emotionally charged, and it goes a long way toward negating the effects of the voice-over narration we're asked to accept.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    38
    I seem to be developing a rule about talking animals: They can talk if they're cartoons or Muppets, but not if they're real.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    Suffers from terminal hoof-in-mouth disease.
  9. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    30
    The majesty of the landscape and the sweetness of a plot strand about the horse learning survival skills from a 12-year-old girl might have been more intriguing without the cloying voice-over.
  10. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Jean Oppenheimer
    20
    Awful narration almost ruins the ghostly, gorgeous Running Free.
  11. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    20
    Vacillates between cutesy Disney-style anthropomorphism and "Born Free" exoticism.
  12. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ron Stringer
    10
    Let horses be horses, scrap the tin-eared Lukas Haas narration.
  13. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Gemma Files
    10
    If you're looking for something child-appropriate that'll actually keep the little darlings awake for two hours straight, you'd do better...and cheaper...to just stay at home with the Discovery Channel.
  14. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Hofler
    10
    A profoundly disappointing attempt to reinvigorate the animal movie genre with the classic ingredients of physical poetry and mythical storytelling.
  15. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    0
    This may be the first talking-animal movie in which the critter hero seems to have been body-snatched by a commentator from C-SPAN.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 2 out of 5
  1. Erin
    0
    Lukas Haas' narration is perhaps the most atrocious experience a moviegoer could ever hope to endure. A "must skip", unless you're into silent colour films. Anthropomorphic elements are irritating, and border on profoundly disturbing. Show to your children if you wish to stunt their development.… Full Review »
  2. Orville
    0
    Narration is simply wretched.
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