I saw the trailer for this film and thought, "here we go again, another film where an unlikely animal tries his/her hand at doing something and wins against all the odds", and that is exactly what it was, from director Frederik Du Chau (The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot). Basically a baby zebra is abandoned by a travelling circus during a thunderstorm, and he is taken home by horse farmer Nolan Walsh (I, Robot's Bruce Greenwood) to be cared for by daughter Channing (Heroes' Hayden Panettiere). Since giving up horse training and racing, Nolan has a quiet life with his daughter on their Kenutcky farm, and the zebra named Stripes (Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz) grows up believing he is a horse. He gets to know and makes friends with the other fellow barnyard animals, including cranky Shetland Pony Tucker (Dustin Hoffman), wise old goat Franny (Whoopi Goldberg), and a pelican named Goose (Joe Pantoliano) joins them too. The farm is very near the Turfway Racetrack where Channing does some work, it is run by the mean Clara Dalrymple (Wendie Malick), who looks on competitors training for the prestigious Kentucky Crown. Stripes has been determined for a long time to become a real race horse, just like Clydesdale (Michael Clarke Duncan) and the other meanies, and Channing is very keen to ride him like one. After some promising looking speed checks from Woodzie (M. Emmet Walsh) and a reminder of his former glory, Nolan is talked round into helping his daughter train Stripes to become the proper racehorse he could be. Stripes has an admirer in professional jumper horse Sandy (Licence to Wed's Mandy Moore), and Tucker comes round to believing in him too, he may be jumpy at the gate and have the mean horses laughing, but he seems ready to go. In the end, of course Stripes and Channing are in the big race aiming to win the Kentucky Open and the Crown, and inevitably they do for a happy ending. Also starring Jeff Foxworthy as Reggie the rooster, Joshua Jackson as Trenton's Pride the horse, Snoop Dogg as Lightning the dog, Steve Harvey as Buzz the fly and The Emperor's New Groove's David Spade as Scuzz the fly. The critics got this right, it is a mix of Babe with the talking animal format and the hope and glory feel of Seabiscuit, making it a completely predictable story that the kids probably won't even get a buzz from, a silly family part-animated comedy adventure. Adequate!
Review of Racing Stripes
