Reviewed by: Becca & Joe

Directed by: Gary Ross

Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gary Ross, & Jane Sindell

Cast: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, & William H. Macy

This is the true story of a former bicycle repairman, Charles Howard (Bridges), who made his fortune introducing the automobile to the American West, and who owned a small, knobbly-kneed horse called Seabiscuit. Howard teamed up with a half-blind ex-boxing prize fighter, Red Pollard (Maguire), who became the horse's jockey and a former "mustang breaker" Wild West performer called "The Lone Plainsman", Tom Smith (Cooper), who became the horse's trainer. As the United States struggled through the Great Depression, people around the country followed with rapt interest of the Seabiscuit story, leading to his win of the Horse of the Year honors in 1938.

What can I say about this movie, you see the reviews for it and you know it's bound to capture your heart and win some nice awards. This movie is the best of the summer, of course there is so much trash out there that that isn't hard to do. I've had a few people ask if how Tobey Maguire did in this movie, mostly because they think he was bad in Spiderman. Which I think he was wonderful in Spiderman, but that's just my opinion. So, back to where I was going, he was fantastic in this movie. He made this movie wonderful. This is a true life story, you have to remember that, which is why it kinda drags on for a while at the begining. It is going by the book, supposedly it followed the book very closely.

I disagree with Joe that the last 20 minutes could of been left out, those were the most important parts of the movie. How both the horse and he came back, and I have heard that they ran several more races after that. There was no way possible that they could of just left it the way it was. But that is what is great about Bamm2u, you get the opinions of several different people.

Anyhow, what else can I say besides if you don't like sports movies don't worry this won't bore you with the sport. This will thrill you with the ordeals they go through, and make you fall in love with every single character. Truly, this movie shows that anybody with a strong will and true heart can accomplish anything that they dream of.

Seabiscuit is a good drama that out shines the rest of the trash that clutters the local Cineplex. There are very few problems but those problems, as few as they are, hurt the film the most. The time length, which stands at nearly two and a half hours, seems to be about twenty minutes too long. The last twenty minutes of the film seem to drag on a bit longer then it should have and hurt the overall flow.

Another problem was some of the transition scenes especially the area where they show Howard’s son dead and then quickly move to where Howard’s wife leaves him. The problem is that the musical score is played above everything else eliminating the dialogue, which doesn’t seem to work at all and just causes confusion amongst the audience.

Despite those problems, the film does play out better then most sports related. What makes the film all the more interesting is the historical background sequences. The scenes feel like they are straight out of a Ken Burns PBS mini-series. Another highlight is the literary quotes and references made by Red Pollard, which brings intelligence and charisma to this sports drama. Though not an absolute classic, Seabiscuit could grab some Oscar nominations that may be well deserved for an interesting story and a good old time at the box office.