Eric D. Snider
Flicka
Movie Review
"Flicka"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: C
Rating: PG
Released: Friday, October 20, 2006
Directed by:
Cast:
In case you're not sure what "Flicka" is all about, the main character spells it out in the opening narration as she describes the Wyoming mountains where she lives. "I can see in them an expression of my own restless spirit," she says floridly.
AAAAAhhhhh. She has a restless spirit, you see, and she's smart and mature enough to recognize it and put it into words. Good for her.
The girl is a teenager named Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman), and when she's not flunking out of her expensive boarding school, she lives on a rural ranch with her father (Tim McGraw), mother (Maria Bello) and older brother (Ryan Kwanten). She finds a wild mustang whose spirit is as restless as hers (in this case "restless" meaning "violent and insane"), and thus girl and horse become friends.
If the story and title sound vaguely familiar yet strangely modified, it's because this is an ever-so-loose adaptation of the 1941 young adult novel "My Friend Flicka," in which the main character was 9 years old and a boy and the horse came from Dad's corral, not the wild. And the rest of the story is more or less completely different. But still! Based on the book.
Katy's dad hates hates HATES mustangs and refuses to let Katy try to tame Flicka, much less ride her. Plus, he's upset with her for the aforementioned out-of-boarding-school-flunking, which occurred as a result of Katy's ill-defined rebelliousness and possible attention deficit disorder. Thus barred from interacting with Flicka, Katy has no choice but to sneak out to the pen at night to train her.
The director, Michael Mayer, doesn't bring a lot to the table beyond basic competence, and the screenplay (by Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner, the duo who brought you "Mona Lisa Smile") leaves a lot of things blank. For example, we're supposed to see Dad as some kind of misguided semi-villain who doesn't understand his own daughter, and the major evidence of this comes when he sells Flicka to a rodeo man. Katy sobs and wails at the injustice, and we're meant to sob and wail with her -- but selling the horse is actually perfectly reasonable. They need the money, the rodeo man needs mustangs, and Katy isn't allowed near the horse anyway. What's the problem here?
But you see, I'm not a 14-year-old girl. My view of the world has not been colored by a love for horses and a central philosophy that life is, like, so unfair 'n' crap. Perhaps the film's timeless message of kids being wiser than their parents will hit home with the tweenage audience. For the rest of us, the movie is inoffensive and forgettable, which is probably what they were going for.
Grade: C
Rated PG, a mild profanity or two
1 hr., 34 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 12 comments
October 21, 2006 at 1:08 pm
your right and maby the world needs more shows like that, that are just good family films. so i hope that this show becomes a succsess just for you.
October 22, 2006 at 9:23 pm
I can't see the title of this movie and not think of boogers. I wonder why...
November 8, 2006 at 9:31 am
i think that in order to critique this type of movie , one must actually understand horses and teenagers, niether of which you seem to have a very good grasp on.
November 11, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Seems the show was hardly a success. It cost $15 million and it made $18,317,624. It was not unprofitable, but it seems it's hardly popular since it's ranked 123 in money making for movies released in the past 365 days. Seems most people agreed with Eric: the movie is nothing special.
November 15, 2006 at 12:13 pm
I think Flicka was a great movie I'm a teenager and I love riding horses so I really connected with the main character. The mountain scenes are also really breathtaking.
November 28, 2006 at 11:53 am
I loved this movie! So no matter what anyone says, it was a good film. It was very well put together and I think that when the director did the casting for this film he did an excellent job picking the characters!
December 18, 2006 at 5:44 am
this is a dreadful film along the lines of the 70's trash TV series 'little house on the prairie ' I have a daughter who has a pony - so I have first hand knowledge of the situation, and this film is way off the mark, unrealistic and makes you want to vomit at the end!
January 20, 2007 at 11:06 pm
I started reading your review, however couldn't finish it.... in the book, Flicka is indeed wild-born, the product of a mustang mare named Rocket and the prize Thoroughbred stallion, Banner. If you saw Flicka to see a movie made from the book, you would be disapointed as there are many differences. I prefer the book, but the movie is good as well, for other reasons.
March 6, 2007 at 3:30 pm
i loved alison lohman in the movie flicka. please tell her that for me. thank you.
nitin .
March 23, 2007 at 3:08 am
I thought it was a good movie, who cares if it wasnt the same as the book, Its about horses, and anyone with a love for horses and the beauty of nature will appreciate this movie, you obviously aint into horses, or into the appreciation of this beautiful continent, therefore, dont review movie topics you know nothing of. Thanks.
September 14, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I agree with AlbertaHorseman, I would also like to add its also about trust
September 27, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I have been a horse lover for as long as I can remember, and I think that this movie does a great job of telling a story about characters that have a will. Not only Flicka but Katy too!! This is after all a movie.....and a movie that has a long history to fall in line with. All Black Beauty movies, Flicka movies, or any other horse related movie. This movie is excellent!!! It had a great story line and keeps you wanting to watch more and more. And I do agree....this is a horse movie and if you love horses you'll understand the heart of Katy in the movie. Great movie!!!