Seabiscuit is about three men and a little horse that set out on a long journey to overcome some of life’s enigmatic obstacles to prove yet again that you can’t ever count the underdog out.  I sat through all one hundred and forty-one days, I mean minutes, of this movie only to find myself drifting off to watch a snail go across the glass of my fish tank and finding that more interesting than this movie.  It had some pretty big names in it like Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man, Pleasantville, Wonder Boys), and Jeff Bridges (K-PAX, Arlington Road, The Big Lebowski), William H. Macy (The Cooler, Fargo, Boogie Nights) and Chris Cooper (Adaptation, The Patriot, American Beauty) that could have made this movie good.  There was some good acting in it, during some of the better parts, but not enough substance in the plot or storyline for me to really get into this movie.  I found it a little too trite, because you knew they were going to win it all and that there would be some trouble along the way, and there were no surprises in this movie to lead you in any different direction. One more thing, what was going on with the interludes of narration and photomontages?  I didn’t need a history lesson; I was watching the movie to be entertained not lectured about the nostalgia of horse racing.  That really irritated me for some reason; it was like the director, Gary Ross, didn’t have enough film to put it in the movie so he went through some archives of photos and threw them in.  This was Gary Ross’s second attempt at directing, his first was Pleasantville, which was a great story and now has cult following.  However, there is that one part at the end during the climactic last race, when it cuts to a photo of a family sitting around an old circa 1930’s radio and you have to listen to what is going on.  I thought that was a good effect to give the audience an authentic feeling of anticipation and eagerness that came with listening to the radio and using your imagination.

This movie is rated PG-13 for some sexual situations and violent sports-related images.

Reviewed by Paul