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Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story

Every young girl grows up wanting a pony. Those few who live on farms have the luxury of being able to reap the benefits of an open space, while the rest of the fantasy filled little girls in the world have to settle for My Little Pony dolls. Although if you are Dakota Fanning, you don't just want a pony, you want a movie about a girl who owns a horse that wins the Breeder Cup, and you want it now! At least that is the only reason I can come up with that Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story, which is so similar in plot to the critically hailed Seabiscuit, was ever greenlit. This young actress delivers acting that rivals child acting greats like Shirley Temple and Haley Joel Osment, but the overdone story and boringly formulaic scenes were probably not intended for my demographic.

Our checklist for important plot points for every horse racing movie that has graced the silver screen. Against all odds jockey (this time played by Six Feet Under's Freddy Rodriguez) who in the end leads the "troubled" horse to victory. Check. Horse racing around the track and getting faster montage (extra points for the foggy background). Check. Cue sappy country song at the end credits. Check plus. This movie has got every cliché down, but it could be too Disney for it's own good. Fanning plays Cale Cane, a precocious young girl who comes from a family of horse trainers. Her dad Ben, Kurt Russell, has a certain flair for "listening" to the horses and being able to determine if they are ready to race. I can already hear The Horse Whisperer references now. When he takes the chance on nursing a horse back to health that he feels has great racing potential, everyone calls him crazy, except Cale.

This horse is no ordinary horse; this horse's name is Sonador which means "dreamer" in Spanish. This is the reason it makes her special, or at least the only reason Cale fills us in on that makes her love the horse so much. But, is it special enough to take a chance on a horse with a broken leg that was almost put down to sleep after it took one of the worst tumbles in movie horse racing history? Special enough that it that Cale would secretly sneak out of her room at night to feed it candy? Special enough that it could possibly bring a family on the brink of dysfunction back together again? Yes, this horse is all that and more.

Cale's mom Lily is played by Oscar nominated Elisabeth Shue, and she is tired of working the late shift at the diner. She rarely gets to see her family, and worse than that, Ben barely

sees Cale either because he works long hours as well. She wants a better life for Cale, so she suggests Ben taking Cale to his work. With much objection, Cale is brought to her father's work and whisked away to a land of horses and racing. Horse training is in her blood. Her grandfather Pop, Kris Kristofferson, was a legendary horse trainer and her father is a pretty famous one at that. So it's only natural that she would want to get into the family business, right? Ben tries to keep Cale out of it, but she only gets more interested the more he refuses to allow it. She immediately takes on a strange, almost maternal, liking to Sonador and the rest is racing history. Her father and she manage to get the horse back on its feet and what do you know, it's now faster than it was before it broke its leg.

The cast, which would usually be fantastic, is somewhat wasted with the lack of character development and uninnovative storytelling. First of all, Kristofferson and Russell have to be the closest I have ever seen actors look like family since Julia Roberts and Kyra Sedgwick were sisters in Something to Talk About (which funny enough takes place at a riding stable). It's uncanny how much they both have the sky blue squinty eyes and long jaws. They play very well off each other and definitely make for a believable pairing. Shue, on the other hand, is put to a new career low. The movie is completely lacking any sort of story involving her character and she is just the "mother" role to Fanning. This is her second time working with Fanning, unless of course you forgot about Hide and Seek like the rest of us. Shue contributes nothing to the movie except for a bad accent. What happened to the Oscar nominated actress who tickled my fancy in Adventures in Babysitting? I blame Kevin Bacon and Hollow Man for her career demise.

David Morse is the antagonist of the film playing Palmer, a wealthy horse owner who fires Ben and tries to rehire him when Sonador begins racing professionally well again. For most of the movie, his part consists of a lot of scowls and off color remarks a villain would naturally make. He just seemed so darn angry, that you might have thought Bjork killed him in a previous role. As for Fanning, this kid must secretly be at least 37, with the technique and amazing skill she displays to her craft. Honestly, Fanning + Tweed Suit = Glenn Close. She just is almost too adult for her own good. She and Osment should do a romantic comedy together, because they are the two most promising actors for the tween set in this day in age. I can just see it now, they

are going to headline the new remake of Pretty Woman, and history is rewritten. That remake is of course a joke, but the two actor's agents should think about getting in touch with each other.

I like these kinds of dramatic films about families coming together because of an outside force that drives everyone to work together for the greater good of the family unit. Unfortunately, this movie tries so hard to be that film, but it falls flat on its face. First of all, the script has a cheese factor that reaches new heights. Every character has long lingering looks and a small monologue that justifies what purpose they serve in the film, but that only adds to its cliché. The movie is very slowly paced, but the cinematography looks great. The director, John Gatins in his first directorial debut, pays very special attention to detail, and it really pays off with some of his beautiful shots of the countryside. With that much attention to detail, he managed to overlook a mediocre script with hokey dialogue. It's all in the details, but sometimes it is better to have an original concept before deciding to make a film everyone has seen before.

Movie Grade: D+

I would recommend this movie to those who love horses and Fanning. Other than that, I would say avoid it at all costs. In fact, I am sure there is an after school special this movie is secretly based on, which you could just rent at your local video store. At first this movie resembled another movie where the subject was damaged by the cheesy nature in which it was presented. That movie, Radio, I discovered was directed by Michael Tollin who produced Dreamer. Go figure.

Synopsis:

Ben Crane was once a great horseman, whose gifts as a trainer were now being wasted on making other men’s fortunes. Sonya was a great horse whose promising future on the racetrack was suddenly cut short by a career-ending broken leg. Considered as good as dead to her owner, who also happens to be Ben’s boss, Sonya is given to Ben as severance pay, along with his walking papers. Now, it will take the unwavering faith and determination of Ben’s young daughter, Cale, to bring these two damaged souls together in a quest for a seemingly impossible goal: to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic.