Not terrible, but not great. Dissapointing and full of Hollywood cliches.

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2004)

This movie really was disappointing. I thought it was really going to be a great movie. I guess "oscar nominated" doesn't mean as much as it should.
Pros
Beautiful to look at. Beautifully filmed. The race scenes looked marvelous. The sets are great. The period details seem authentic (I can't judge for reality, but everything looks nice). The horses are magnificent. Howard's new wife is pretty. etc.
Uplifting. It really is an uplifting story. Potentially, at least. (If not for its sappiness and cliches, but some people might not mind/notice.)
Harmless/family-friendly. It has very little swearing, no nudity or explosions or drug use or murder or violence. Well, not none, but not the graphic gratuitous hollywood stuff.
Good acting. All of the actors are and were really quite good.
Cons
Sappy and full of Hollywood cliches. For example, when Red got "really really injured" the fact that Something Bad Was About To Happen wwas practically written on the bottom of the screen in closed-captioning, the way it was set up. Projected from a mile away. And that's just one example.
Poor character development.
Story details glossed over. One minute, Seabiscuit is a loser horse, the next, he is winning every race and loved by millions. The change was that quick in the movie, and even if it happened like that in real life, it just didn't feel right or make sense on the screen. Once again, just one example.
Etc. etc. I could go on, but my wife is yelling at me to put some pants on. So see you all later!