Corn-fed horse comes good

Rating: 7/10 (15 March 2005)

It's clear that at the time the real Seabiscuit was a major star in horse-racing, and deservedly so. Genuine rags-to-riches stories are always good fare for the movies. This film evokes the atmosphere of Depression-era America very well, and there's a feel-good factor that's hard to avoid being seduced by. Frankly this is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, with a solid cast providing solid performances. I don't think it's by any means the best work that any of the lead players have produced, but perhaps the corniness of the script is the main reason. The horses are uniformly outstanding however. The narration is unfortunately both distracting and irritating - I would have preferred captions or more newspaper shots. In conclusion it would be churlish to be too negative about this film, but I would have been disappointed if I'd paid to see it in the cinema, rather than watch it at home as I did. I would recommend it as a family film.