Review of Secretariat (2010) by Dana A — 07 May 2011

The best way I can describe this film is "very Disney." It follows all the rules of the inspiring, Disney-produced, sports film, based on a true story. You have a few underdogs, characters with determination, a wild card mentor character, the skeptical stand by characters, the arrogant former champions, and even a "magical negro character.

" All of these factors add up to making for a film deemed crowd pleasing by general audiences. There's nothing inherently wrong with this film (despite the many character changes for the film), it's just very shallow and by-the-numbers.

The stakes in this film and the characters involved never become very interesting. Secretariat really only becomes involved in the later stages of the film, with plenty of repetitive horse racing scenes and strange camera shots from his point of view.

The rest of the film is devoted to the drama surrounding having enough money to save Penny's farm. The film sidesteps other, more interesting plot threads, like what it means to be a women running an operation like this in the 1970s or the various issues involving her family, especially her rebellious daughter.

There is not even enough done in this film to set up why Penny needs to desperately save this farm, beyond a thirty second flashback to her and her father holding hands and looking at horse when she was young.

Expanding any of these elements could have pushed it beyond its very conventional story structure. It is not like this is asking a lot. Other Disney films like Remember the Titans, Miracle, and even my favorite - Cool Runnings (yes, Cool Runnings!) do a better job at being effective sports dramas that both follow the standard mold, but add elements that make the stories more compelling, even if you know the eventual outcome.

It's especially irritating that the films I've mentioned and this one will garner the same kind of audience approval, i.e. clapping, because they are made in such a way to manipulate that sort of reaction.

Still, this isn't a terrible film. It has the budget to at least look good. The period art and costume design is handled well enough. The horse races are easy enough to follow, despite the repetitive nature and the shots from Secretariat's perspective that I mentioned.

Lane's performance is good, even if she doesn't have that much of a character to expand on in this story. I've also already mentioned Malkovich, who is clearly around to garner a mix of relief and the feel of a veteran in play, but manages both aspects well, with less of the Malkovich intensity that many are used to.

In fact, a number of good character actors pop up here, including James Cromwell, among the others I've already named. It's hard to argue against a film like this, because I know that plenty of people will come out of this film with a warm feeling inside if that's what they were looking for.

But I still can't help but think that a more interesting story was here and was not adequately portrayed. Mediocre entertainment.