I liked it a lot, but . . .

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2003)

First of all, let me say that I read and absolutely loved Laura Hillenbrand's book of the same name. In addition, I had seen the A&E documentary only the night before I went to see the movie, as well as the PBS documentary. The point is, I was quite familiar with the events portrayed in the movie.
Further, I had heard and agree with one review of the movie on PBS, in which the reviewer said the movie was lacking one central character--the horse. That is, Hillenbrand did a marvelous job of recreating the personality of a really interesting horse, Seabiscuit, and this was not done in the movie, which focused on some of story behind the three central humans--the jockey, trainer, and owner.
All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. For what it was and tried to do, it worked for me. Do I think it was as good as the book? Of course not.

Do I think it was even as valid a recreation of the story of Seabiscuit as the A&E documentary? Nope.
I do think it was a lot of fun to watch, however, and would urge anyone going to see it to take it for what it is, nothing more or less. Don't expect it to be faithful to the real story of the 'Biscuit, which actually turns out to be a heckofa lot more dramatic than what was on the screen.

Read Hillenbrand's book, see the A&E documentary, and go see this movie.