Aprendendo a Viver

I enjoyed this movie based on a true story lived by the writer John Mowod.

After the death of her father Shannon discovers that her mother is still living: a great shock for her: mother and daughter meet together for the first time in Florida and Christine proposes Shannon to spend her holiday with her in Pennsylvania. Shannon doesn't feel well in this new world and repeats that she hate horses. But when she enters into the stable she sees a young filly and feels empathy for the filly. Eric, the campanion of Christine offers her to work in the office and to take care for some horses. Little by little Shannon will pratice harness racing. This will help her to improve her self-esteem and then to strengthen her relationship with her mother.

Very good performances of Julianne Michelle, Caire Forlani, Jason Gedrick, Stephen Colletti ,Eric Roberts and Louis Gossett Jr.

Shannon Greene (Julianne Michelle) loses her father and she goes into a tailspin. She thought she was an orphan because she was told her mother was dead. Then she's told that her father lied to both her and her mother telling them both that other was dead. This premise seems problematic to me. Was there a funeral? Wouldn't the mother find it suspicious? I guess the unspoken understanding is that the mother didn't really want the baby.

The mother Christine (Claire Forlani) is now a successful doctor and her boyfriend Eric (Jason Gedrick) has horses for harness racing. Shannon is full of anger, but she start to open up as she takes care of one of the horses. Then one day after a race, evil horse owner Mitchell Prescott (Eric Roberts) bought out the horse. Once again, Shannon's loved one is ripped from her.

Julianne Michelle seems a bit too old to play the teen. But she does have one great scene where she breaks down after losing the horse. Of course they were able to buy the horse back, but only after Mitchell Prescott had almost killed it. The movie is supposed to be inspirational but the movie kinda missed the point. The heart of the story must be the mother-daughter reconciliation, not the love between a girl and her horse.

In a world of "shoot em up" movies and horrible stories in the news of violence and death, it's nice to find a family-safe movie. It's a great story about a teen coping with loss through her training of a lame horse. The film has lots of emotion, actresses and actors that have a house-hold name, and it was set and filmed in the Pittsburgh area. Cineametographer Dean Cundy, the man behind Jurassic Park's beautiful scenes, does a great job with sharp images, bright colors, and racing scenes that put you in the action. And I thought actor Jason Gedrick did a great performance and stole the movie. There's even a funny cameo with Steve Guttenburg and the late Charles Durning, which I believe is his last performance. Check it out!

I'm a sucker for animal stories and this is an ok one. The fact it takes place around harness racing is an interesting plot device. The actors did a fine job with what they had to work with, namely a somewhat weak script and some plot holes that never get explained. All in all I glad I saw it once, but it's not I'll want to see again.

While the acting was not Oscar winning, it was competent. It was nice to see Louis Gossett Jr. back in movies though to think this was Charles Durning's last movie makes one wince. Make no mistake, the movie is predictable. For those who love racing, they will like the movie provided they can deal with the artistic changes to conform to time constraints. The race scenes were very good.

My problem comes with some of the editorial decisions. I winced at a couple of scenes which may be considered rough for those sensitive to animal rights and children. The movie didn't fully develop some of the back stories of the trainers.

The movie is promoted as being family friendly. I would suggest Amazing Racer is not a movie for those under ten or sensitive to animal abuse (simulated).

A movie to rent, not to own.