Hidalgo

In a Nutshell: Worth seeing, once. A little long, a little slow, but still pretty good. Loved the horse. Probably won't lose anything on the small screen if you want to wait.

Quick Plot: "Legendary" horseman Frank Hopkins is invited to participate in the world's greatest horse race across the 3000-mile dessert called the Ocean of Fire in Arabia. Can his mixed-blood Mustang Hidalgo compete against the purest Arabian equine bloodlines in the world?

In Detail: Like I said, it is worth seeing. I definitely think it was too long. It is over two hours, and by more than a few minutes. There is only so much "it's hot and we're in the barren dessert" footage you can stand, ya know? I also found the film a little choppy. Most segments didn't seem to flow well into the next segments. And beware the "based on a true story" moniker. It is based on the life of Frank Hopkins, as told by Frank Hopkins, as legendary for his tall tales as for his reputed horseman skills. Does that make the story any less interesting? No, not really. Just makes it slightly less than true. Still worth seeing, and it's great to see Omar Shariff on screen again, even if it is in a small part beneath his skills. And for the record, I think the PG-13 is for violence and several (fake) animal injuries, including one participant killing (stabbing) his horse when it breaks a leg. I don't distinctly recall any language, and there is no sex at all.

Will I Buy It? Probably not. Worth seeing *once*, maybe twice, not repeatedly IMO.

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