Flicka - Uno spirito libero

Mary O'Hara's novel "My Friend Flicka" is the basis for this wonderful family oriented movie. Directed by Michael Mayer, a man whose work we had admired before, offers a positive view of a Wyoming family that is struggling to make a living out the ranch where they raise horses and the changes that are happening around them.

At the center of the story is Katy McLaughlin, a young woman who is happier being in the family ranch than at the boarding school, where she seems to be out of place. When Katy goes back home after not completing a key exam, she begins to feel like a human being. All the great outdoors are at her finger tips. The horses she loves are also part of her life.

A fearless rider, Katy is surprised one day by a mountain lion who comes near her. A mustang that appears out of nowhere comes to her rescue, attracting Katy's attention. A bond will develop between the young woman and the horse that will prove it to be a mutual love and respect they feel about one another. She names the horse Flicka and becomes her champion when her father feels a mustang doesn't belong in the ranch because what it will do to the other pure bred horses. In the end, the father, as well as the family realize how deep Katy cares for Flicka and the way the horse responds to her.

Alison Lohman, who is seen as Flicka, is an actress that seems a natural no matter what role she is asked to play. Tim McGraw does justice to the father, and lovely Maria Bello is perfect as the mother.

The beautiful cinematography by J. Michael Muro does wonders to create the right atmosphere in which the action is presented. The same can be said for the musical score of Aaron Zigman, which is tuneful and fits well in the picture. There is no doubt Michael Mayer will continue to surprise us in his future projects.

Highly recommended for all families.

During the rodeo the thing that bugs me the most is the barrel racing. It's like the movie is trying to make fun of the sport. If they're going to film a barrel race, they need to have someone who knows what they're doing, on a horse that knows what it's doing. In the movie they have a horse that has no idea what its doing with an inexperienced rider. Also, the chute dogging sucked. I know plenty of kids who are only in junior rodeo who can do so much better than what was shown in this movie.

Now granted, the rest of the movie was a great recreation, but I still like the original better. They changed the movie here and there, all around it was great. I just wish that they had spent a little bit of money just to get people to come in for the rodeo who have experience in that area. I mean come on, the focus of the movie is about horses. The least they could do is not disrespect people who rodeo for a living.

"Flicka" (2006) bridges several sub-genres, unfortunately it is one of the weakest examples of each. It's a horse movie (the original is better, as are "National Velvet", The Horse Whisperer" and for that matter most episodes of "The Saddle Club" and "Spin & Marty"). It's a "wild mustangs as a metaphor for the changing West" movie ("The Misfits" and "Billy Jack" do it better). It's an overwrought coming of age melodrama (countless other films do this better as well as most of the stuff you find playing on Lifetime).

It's also an Alison Lohman film and in all fairness contains one of her best performances. Lohman is always excellent and in "Flicka" she is given a lot to work with and handles it all quite well. However, the scripting and editing assembly work are so weak that her strong performance (and nice supporting work by Maria Bello and Ryan Kwanten) cannot turn this thing into a high quality film. You might notice that neither the two screenwriters nor the director have been involved in any feature productions since the release of the film.

"Flicka" was a major release (over 2900 theaters in the U.S.) and turned a profit at the box office. I credit shrewd packaging by the film's producers as they focused from inception on insuring that the project would be bankable. They incorporated elements that pre-sold the film beyond its target audience of pre-teen girls. Tim McGraw was cast to bring in his large fan base, Kwanten was counted on to draw a fair number of teenage girls into the multi- plex, and there were so few live action family films in 2006 that it was able to tap into an under-supplied market.

As for Mary O'Hara's beloved children's book (My Friend Flicka-previously adapted into two feature films and a television show, is credited), it would be more accurate to say "inspired by" rather than "adapted from". The original's ten-year-old hero has been changed to a 16-year-old heroine named Katy McLaughlin (Lohman).

I normally rant a bit when an older actress is cast as a teenager but Lohman is the Mary Pickford of her day and with her cute face and freckles still looks physically believable playing a teen. Her new look for the film, long curly hair-dyed dark, makes her look a lot like Kari Russell (insert "very Irish" here). In this remake it's totally Katy's story (in the original the parents had a more central role) and is told from her point-of-view. She even does a short voice-over commentary to begin and close the film. Normally this POV stuff leads to viewer identification and connection, but the scripting and directing works against Lohman and you stay distanced from her character.

Katy is mega-headstrong, uncomfortable and bored at her boarding school but at one with the wilds of her family's horse ranch in Wyoming. Her father is grooming Katy's older brother Howard to eventually take over the ranch, clueless about Howard's desire to escape and about Katy's affinity for the place. She is the chip-off-the-old-block, not her brother.

The title character is a two-year old black mustang mare that is a source of conflict between Katy and her father for most of the film. While the movie looks pretty the thin plot, the poor sequencing, and absence of "genuine" emotion" doesn't add up to a particularly satisfying viewing experience.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Katy (Lohman) a teenager finds a wild mustang and decides that is her horse and sets out to tame it. Her father (McGraw) doesn't want her to end up on a ranch and wants her to go to college.

Yes, it's corny, sappy and all that. But just like a great big, juicy, cheeseburger sometimes you just "gotta have one." This is good family entertainment and the kids will love it. Everything works, the dialogue, the scenery, the acting, the music and, of course, the horses.

What's not to like when you see a herd of horses running full out over the plains and there are many scenes like that in here as the ranch is a Quarter Horse Ranch. There is something majestic watching those horses run.

The setting is in Wyoming and we get to see some really great scenery and the camera could have lingered longer on this landscape and yet we did not see the Big Sky, something for which Wyoming is famous for as well as Montana. I was once in Wyoming and saw the Big Sky and there is nothing like it. You look at those nearby gigantic, almost touchable, clouds and you know there something special there. And, when you look, you don't have to look up too far. But, sadly, no Big Sky in here. Maybe Flicka 2?

However, as mentioned this is good family fun and I'm getting hungry. Maybe a cheeseburger…….

Violence:No, Sex: No, Nudity: No, Language:No

My daughter and I are avid movie-goers. We both agree that the movie market is over-glutted with CGI animated flicks. We saw both "Over the Hedge," and "The Wild," and they left us cold. We may give "Flushed Away" a chance, only because the guys behind the beloved "Wallace & Gromit films, and "Chicken Run." "Flicka" has it problems, such as a female lead who looks far too old to be in high school, a "brother" who acts likes he is flirting with her more than his on-screen girlfriend! and an impossibly perfect mom, but it still does not disappoint. Of course I read the original "Flicka" book as a child AND remember the old B&W TV series! This movie doesn't even come close, but from the moment the rodeo guy took Flicka away until the end of the movie, my daughter and I were crying buckets! I also think that hunky Tim McGraw was superb, and was jealous of Maria Bello when they did the slow dance!