SnoopyStyle Cale Crane (Dakota Fanning) lives on a horse farm with no horses. Their farm is holding on with her mother Lily (Elisabeth Shue) working as a diner waitress. Her father Ben (Kurt Russell) doesn't get along with his father Pop (Kris Kristofferson). Ben trains horses for the rich owner Palmer (David Morse) who races his horse despite Ben's advise. The horse is injured and Palmer wants to put her down. Palmer fires Ben. Ben takes the horse for compensation. Partly through obsession, partly through skills, partly with love, and the hard work of everybody including Manolin (Freddy Rodriguez) and Balon (Luis Guzman), they bring her back to health. It's a roller-coaster ride when they find out that she is infertile.This is an unabashed sentimental movie. Russell is great as the strong solid father under pressure. It's a good move that his character is healing the horse for the money rather than any moral stance. Fanning is adorable enough and spunky enough. It's a terrific underdog story. The movie is full of familiar clichés. It's probably too overloaded with them but Russell and Fanning make them work most of the time.

Neil Welch Ben Crane is a racehorse trainer whose life is slowly sliding apart. His horse farm has no horses and is being sold off bit by bit. He is almost estranged from his father and drifting away from his wife and daughter. Even his work as a trainer is unsatisfactory, being forced to toe the line imposed by his employer. And when he is forced to race a horse who isn't well, and the horse is injured as a result, things snap: Ben is out of a job, with the injured (and therefore worthless) horse as part of his termination package. What happens to the horse and, as a result, to Ben and his family, forms the rest of the film.This is good, wholesome stuff. Yes, it is perhaps predictable, but that doesn't really matter. No, it didn't actually happen (being "inspired by" is not the same as being "based on"), but that doesn't really matter either. What matters is that it is entertaining, carries some morality, and leaves you feeling good.And one of the things which impressed me is that Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning (in yet another one of those exceptional child performances), Elisabeth Shue and Kris Kristofferson, despite their familiarity as performers, had me believing that they were a real family.Good stuff.

thumpergirl03 Let me start off by saying that i wasn't totally disappointed with this movie. I'm a big fan of thoroughbred movies (i liked Seabiscuit and Ruffian)i don't know maybe it's because i'm an animal lover. But I will say that a lot of the scenes were very predictable (horse gets injured old trainer/veterinarian offers to nurse her back to health owner is your typical a****** bad guys are Arabian sheiks who knows how they got rich). The scenery and racing scenes were beautiful. The music mediocre only. The relationship between father and daughter comes of as more of a father son relationship. I will say that i don't like Dakota Fanning especially after War of the worlds. She acts beyond her years in this film, like an urban teen/young adult instead of 10 year old girl. Her feeding the horse Popsicles every night was stupid. And lastly anyone should know that a horse falling on its neck like that would cause more damage than just a broken leg. I won't give away the ending but all in all just a mediocre film.

jotix100 Much has been made in these pages about this film, as far as not being a true story. This inspired account about an injured horse the Crane family bring back to life, is one of the most engaging films about the racing sport in memory. Of course, this is no "Seabiscuit", but the film makers are not claiming it to be.John Gantins, the director and writer of this picture, knows what to give the public. Aside from the heart warming feeling in the film, he was blessed with a cast that does justice to the material. The love of a young girl for a horse, that by all accounts should have been shot because of the injured it suffered during an accident, is the stuff that makes good family movies. "Dreamer, Inspired by a True Story" is totally dominated by Dakota Fanning's presence in the film. Miss Fanning, is a luminous young actress the camera adores. She is a natural, as she shows in this film. Dakota Fanning has the uncanny ability of being real at all times. Her love for Sonador and her determination to take the horse to the Breeders' race consumes her, as well as her family.Kurt Russell is also good as Cale's father. He is a man of principle who loves what he does best, bringing horses to their full potential. Kris Kristofferson plays the grandfather who wants Cale to succeed and in the process he is reunited with his son. Elizabeth Shue is seen as a mother who has to work to help meet ends when her husband loses his job. David Morse, one of the best character actors around doesn't have much to do, and the same goes for the wonderful Luis Guzman, playing one of the stable men.The film is recommended for families with children. Mr. Gantins created an excellent entertainment that will satisfy young and old because it shows a young girl with a firm resolution to do the right thing for the horse she loves.