I went into this movie not expecting anything brilliant, but a fun movie that portrayed a great horse which is exactly what it was(especially since it's a Disney movie). I had no problem that the story was mainly about Penny Chenery and what she did, my problem was that they took the most memorable and moving race of all time (The Belmont) and turned it into a rushed scene. I felt as though they did not spend enough time on Secretariat's magic that happened that day at Belmont. The fact that the race wasn't recorded at Belmont isn't the problem, because there are so many other problems with this scene. The music was just silly - no emotion whatsoever (when I watch the actual footage of this race, there is SO much emotion!). They could have made this scene far better than it was. Maybe I'm comparing it too much to the Match Race and the last race scene from the movie Sea Biscuit - now those were scenes and music put together that gave me goosebumps and tears to my eyes. Secretariat just gets a quick race scene with some silly music as he comes down the last turn. Not too emotional if you ask me.
Diane Lane did a wonderful job as Penny Chenery and you are always rooting for her throughout the entire movie. I can't say the same for her family. Her husband was an ignorant jerk, as was her brother. And why did her peace loving hippie daughter get the extra screen time that Secretariat deserved!? That really irked me. Before this movie came out, so many people were assuming that Sham, Secretariats biggest rival, was not going to be mentioned at all. Well that certainly was not the case as they did a good job at letting the audience know just who Sham was, which really impressed me.
I own race horses and I watch actual footage on youtube of the great ones, especially Secretariat, and I get chills and get a tear to my eye just watching him run (mainly the Derby and the Belmont), and I thought for sure there would be at least one time in the movie where I would get emotional, but no, not one scene had that effect on me. If you know a lot about horse racing and/or truly see how much of a wonderful horse Secretariat was, you will not think this movie is up to par. I also think the movie Sea Biscuit involved more emotion towards the horse from the audience more so than Secretariat does. If you are aware of how great of a horse he was, you will love him, but if you're going into this movie not knowing much about Secretariat, the director fails to bring you emotionally involved with him. I will most likely buy this movie when it comes out because overall I did enjoy it, but I just wish it could have been better.
Simply put, like my title says, Secretariat (the horse himself) was nothing short of great, and this movie is decent at best, and I'm sorry, but the best race horse of all time does not deserve "good" or decent" ... he deserves "GREAT."
Diane Lane did a wonderful job as Penny Chenery and you are always rooting for her throughout the entire movie. I can't say the same for her family. Her husband was an ignorant jerk, as was her brother. And why did her peace loving hippie daughter get the extra screen time that Secretariat deserved!? That really irked me. Before this movie came out, so many people were assuming that Sham, Secretariats biggest rival, was not going to be mentioned at all. Well that certainly was not the case as they did a good job at letting the audience know just who Sham was, which really impressed me.
I own race horses and I watch actual footage on youtube of the great ones, especially Secretariat, and I get chills and get a tear to my eye just watching him run (mainly the Derby and the Belmont), and I thought for sure there would be at least one time in the movie where I would get emotional, but no, not one scene had that effect on me. If you know a lot about horse racing and/or truly see how much of a wonderful horse Secretariat was, you will not think this movie is up to par. I also think the movie Sea Biscuit involved more emotion towards the horse from the audience more so than Secretariat does. If you are aware of how great of a horse he was, you will love him, but if you're going into this movie not knowing much about Secretariat, the director fails to bring you emotionally involved with him. I will most likely buy this movie when it comes out because overall I did enjoy it, but I just wish it could have been better.
Simply put, like my title says, Secretariat (the horse himself) was nothing short of great, and this movie is decent at best, and I'm sorry, but the best race horse of all time does not deserve "good" or decent" ... he deserves "GREAT."
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