L'étalon sauvage

Young Miranda Cosgrove, Fred Ward's daughter gets to spend a couple of weeks on a ranch owned by his girlfriend Connie Sellecca where Cosgrove bonds with Danielle Churchran who is Sellecca's daughter.

Sellecca and Churchran have a deep affection for the wild mustangs who roam free and antipathy for the mustangers who try to trap them and sell them to pet food manufacturers. If you remember The Misfits that's what Clark Gable, Monty Clift, and Eli Wallach were doing with Marilyn Monroe along for the ride.

The mustangers are led by Deputy Sheriff Corbin Allred and he's trying to catch the legendary Wild Stallion who leads a herd. Get him and you get a herd and that's big pay day.

As this is a family film G rated you know he will be caught and the girls will provide assistance. It can't come out any other way.

Look for Paul Sorvino as the sheriff and Robert Wagner as the buyer of the wild horses.

This is nice family viewing.

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. I wasn't expecting much after reading some of the reviews, and I understand some of the negativity. The bad guys were a bit of a clown act, but I wasn't watching the movie for them. No, the Wild Stallion probably wasn't totally black but I don't really care. And yes the first part of the movie was kind of slow.

But then the movie got interesting when the girls met. They're relationship progression was fun to watch, and I thought they rode their horses well considering they're little girls. I also liked the cow hands. Some laugh out loud moments with those guys.

I also found Robert Wagner as a bad guy amusing. Wish he had more scenes.

If you're looking for a nice pleasant movie without the murder and mayhem, this is it.

I turned this movie on cable just to see the horses, and even while only half-watching it I was appalled and disgusted by how outright horrible it is. Who paid for this dreck? How desperate were some of these name actors? It NEVER fails to amaze me how they can make movies about horses without KNOWING anything about horses! This "film" takes the term "bad movies" to a whole new level... not one I'm sure I can stand despite the beautiful scenery and horses. I'm not sure what's worse: the inane script, the half-ass and mailed-in acting, or the ham-handed editing. Not even worth it for the animals, and at least THEY can act. Run away. Fast.

This is the fourth movie I have seen from prolific family filmmaker Craig Clyde. In a few aspects, this is one of his most accomplished efforts. This time around he had a decent budget, which not only allowed him to hire a few name actors, but also with the production values. (This movie looks REALLY nice, from the scenery to the cinematography.) Another nice thing about the movie was that it was somewhat less juvenile than other typical modern day family movies; even the child characters are taking things more seriously than usual.

The movie got a rare "G" rating from the MPAA, and there is indeed nothing in the movie I think anyone would find inappropriate for kid viewers. But that also happens to be the problem that ultimately sinks the movie. There is virtually no peril, no tension, no action, or anything else that would give the movie some real compelling drama. As a result, kids will find the movie to be really boring. Their parents will have more patience, but even they will probably wish there was more spark. It doesn't help that the movie also unfolds at a REALLY slow pace. In the end, the movie is only worth a viewing for viewers who want an answer as to why they make so few "G" rated movies nowadays.

Pretty much everyone else has already said it all. The acting was downright embarrassing. The adults were the worst, especially the bad guys. Even Connie Sellica was awful. The kids were much better actors than the adults.

The "black" Stallion is really brown. That's actually an insult to the viewer. Just how stupid do the producers think we are, that we're going to buy in that the horse is really black? Were you really so hard up you couldn't find a black horse anywhere to use for the film? Couldn't you have least used dye, or doctored up the film to make the horse look black? I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't even a stallion, or even a male horse.

I still have this on, but am only paying half attention to it now. I hate stopping a show before seeing it through to the end. That's why I'm warning future viewers to not even bother starting the movie at all.