Rent it on Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Amazon.
Back in 2003, audiences were swept away by a little underdog story titled Seabiscuit, the true story of a racehorse who became the people's champion during the great depression. It was nominated for seven Acadamy Awards, including Best Picture. Since then, there have been many other films either trying to cash in on the movie's success or use the opportune timing to tell a similar story with a different racehorse. Films like Flik-A and Disney's Secretariat were charming in their own way but still tried to ride off of the success of Seabiscuit. While today's subject, Dream Horse, is clearly inspired by Seabiscuit, it's not trying to one-up or imitate that classic underdog story. Rather, it's telling its own, and it does so incredibly well.
The story follows a middle-aged working woman named Jan Vokes (Toni Collette), who works two jobs and raises animals like ducks, pigeons, and dogs. One night, while tending bar at her second job, she strikes a conversation with a former racehorse manager named Howard Davies (Damian Lewis). Their conversation inspires Jan to take a risk and learn the ins and outs of raising a racehorse. The only obstacle is the financial burden, but she has a plan. Jan encourages at least twenty different people in her town to join the adventure as co-owners with an equal share of the investment. From there, they become a new community and family through the spectacular achievements of their own racehorse named Dream Alliance.
As I have stated a few times before, films like these are mostly reliant upon their cast. This ensemble piece has many textured and entertaining side characters who all get their moments to shine. Every character is likable and brings something relevant to the table.
Toni Collette and Damian Lewis are particularly entertaining to watch. Both of them are talented actors with impressive resumes, and their chemistry is genuinely heartfelt. They both clearly had lots of fun with this story, and it shows.
I should mention that if you decide to rent this film for yourself on any digital platform (specifically on Apple TV as I cannot vouch for any of the other platforms), for some reason beyond my comprehension (and much to my annoyance), the movie has been panned & scanned.
For those who don't know, panning & scanning is a technique used by television broadcasters and early home video companies. It is taking a feature film originally presented in a theatrical aspect ratio and zooming into the image to encompass the full size of a television screen.
This practice made sense back when television screens were square-shaped rather than the modern rectangular-shaped HD screens, which can now better present feature films in their original aspect ratio. In the case of Dream Horse, panning & scanning the film is a great disservice. Because the film was clearly intended to be presented in its original wide aspect ratio, there are scenes where characters are out of frame when they shouldn't be. Bits of text are rendered illegible because they are cut off at the edge of the frame. The only reasoning behind this choice that I can speculate is because the distributors didn't want letterboxing on the film. Which, if they didn't want that for its television presentation, why didn't they demand that the filmmakers utilize a more television-friendly aspect ratio? Bottom line: panning & scanning is an outdated practice that needs to stop!
Aside from this unnecessary technical hindrance that doesn't negatively affect the whole film, Dream Horse is a delightful and light-hearted movie that deserves to be enjoyed. Especially for fans of horses. Check this one out.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
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