Loved the book, movie 'almost' as good.

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2003)

I just finished reading a previous review lambasting the liberties the script takes with the facts of this true story. Well, we can't have a six hour movie (as much as I'd like to). Characters have to be trimmed and scenes are often changed to heighten the drama.
Other characters and scenes were left on the cutting room floor as well. I myself wondered why Pollard has no wife and Charles Howard has no other sons. It is a flaw to not mention that Seabiscuit often carried 130 pounds in weight while other horses in the field often carried much less. I guess handicapping is a thing best left to horse enthusiasts. To be fair, there is a quick shot listing the entries in the last race shown and the weights assigned to each horse. But, you can't see that Seabiscuit is carrying the most weight. So, maybe this ended up on the cutting room floor.
(Can you tell I wanted a longer movie)
Each character is fully realized and the time is taken to develop them. Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Tobey McGuire are all superb, as is the comic relief character "Tick Tock", played by William H. Macy. The film beautifully captures the flavor of the book and by the end, I had a big lump in my throat. For once, a movie about characters instead of explosions and mind numbing violence.
Hoorah for a job well done. My only quibble is the excessive use of documentary footage and still photos, especially during the big match race, which broke up the flow of the scene. I guess the producers felt they had to include such footage because audience members younger than forty would need to know when this movie took place. Sadly, how many teenagers actually know when the depression was? I would have preferred to use the characters and dialogue more to bring the era to life. I'll give this movie 9 out of 10.