*** Official SEABISCUIT Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Seabiscuit". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Crawford]

Though, this film took a few liberties when it came to its reenactment of some past horse races, I am nevertheless happy with the way this film was presented in how it told the story of how three men and a depressed nation shared a commons sense of healing due to the speed, strength and determination displayed by this great horse. The acting performances were top-notched throughout this cast. Even with me knowing most of the story about all of the major players, I was still fascinated by how the people, animals and events were unfolded in front of my eyes with this film. I liked this film alot and I recommend it to anyone that's interested in real people and how their world can evolve in such a way that they're given a second chance in life.




Crawdaddy

 

[Patrick Sun]

This film is like a leisurely walk on a Sunday afternoon in the country. The film unfolds with just enough pacing to gets us to connect with the main characters, and does a nice job of making us care for them and Seabiscuit while telling this story, a reflection of resiliency, and how adversity can make you stronger and heal you faster provided you have the drive to make it happen.

I think most who see it will enjoy it.

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.

 

[Christopher Bosley]

Leisurley walk? Yes it spends the first half hour setting the stage on the backstory of the three principals, but once they buy Seabiscuit hold on to your hats. Like the Biscuit himself, not always the fastest out of the gate, when coming around the back turn and into the homestretch, the movie really hits its stride and is a rush of excitement from one race to the next.

 

[BobSmith]

Good film, but the beginning of the film was a little off-track and out there.

 

[Evan S]

I loved the film. I thought it was great. I think they left a lot out from the book, but most of it was extraneous and not needed for the movie (like Pollard's alcoholism and love life).

Compared to other sports movies like "The Natural" or "Rudy", the climatic scene was not quite as uplifting as those previous films. Perhaps that was because I read the book, and knew what was coming.

I must say that I would give the movie a solid B, but in comparison to the book, there is none. The book is an A+++.

 

[Kevin. W]

Wife dragged me to ths one today. Her the horse lover, me not. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the movie. Nice change from all the other, same/done this/that before sequals and crap.

Kevin

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Seabiscuit scores a quinella for both its fascinating and affecting story and its heartfelt performances by its cast.

The only quip that I have is the “third-party” narration that occurred throughout the entire film. Every time it went on, it detached me from the film’s emotional context and it felt that I was watching a semi-documentary instead. It would have been better and more appropriate if the narration was performed by one of the characters in the film as in Red Pollard (Tobey Maquire) giving his parting words in the end. Maquire or Jeff Bridges doing the narration would have made it more personal and moving as the characters these two played are the ones that the audience had a significant investment on.

Nonetheless, this film was quite enjoyable. As for its Best Picture Oscar chances as to which is currently being billed, it is a crowd pleaser but I don’t think it will be a major contender. Of course, this is contingent upon how the other films fare for the rest of this year. However, a nomination for Adapted Screenplay could be at hand.

~Edwin

 

[alan halvorson]

Saw this film Friday afternoon - loved it, and I'll be going back again and I'm going to try to drag my mother along. What was unusual was that there were so many elderly folks in the theater - it was almost nothing but! Many stayed right through the entire credits - no one but me does this. The film broke right after the Seabiscuit/War Admiral race (fortunately not during) with the result that we were given a free pass to a future show.

 

[Kristian]

Throughout most of Seabiscuit, I was genuinely moved by the story and captivated by the performances of the three leads. However, I was a little dissapointed by the ending, which was not as powerful as I was expecting. Still, I enjoyed the rest of the movie too much to be too worked up about that. To paraphrase my favorite line from the film, "You don't give up on a movie just because it's beat up a little".

:star: :star: :star: 1/2 out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Denward]

I just saw SB this past Friday. I had read the book a few months ago, and was really looking forward to this movie. For me, I would give the movie a B-. A couple of things that I thought were essential to the book, but left out in the movie:
1. The excitement surrounding SB's cross country train rides. I didn't think the movie captured nearly the sense of the nation's excitement that the book conveyed.
2. The importance of the Santa Anita Handicap (SAH). To me, winning the "Hundred Grander" was more important to the principles than the race against War Admiral. IIRC, they lost the SAH a few times, with Pollard and SB finally winning after their injuries. A greater emphasis on this race would have added more oomph to the ending. As Kristian previously wrote, the ending was lacking and I think this is why.
3. The jockeys talking to each other during races was way too sappy for me.

Things I did like:
1. The little ball bearing toy was not a part of the book, but I thought the movie used it well to connect Howard's concern and feelings for his son and Pollard.
2. The horse racing scenes. They were right up there with Ben Hur.
3. William Macy was excellent.
4. Gary Stevens. Living in horse country, it was good to see that they gave a significant role to a real jockey. I thought this amateur pulled it off quite well. BTW, that was Chris McCarron riding War Admiral.

 

[Chris Atkins]

SEABISCUIT

:star: :star: :star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Wife and I just watched this over the weekend. A charming movie, that's slow out of the gate but terrific at the end.

I think the editing is what harms this movie most, as it tries to cram too much story, character and exposition into the first 45 minutes of the movie. It's stretched too thin, and characterization suffers as a result.

But once the horse appears around 45 minutes in, the movie really takes off.