Orphan Horse

Yes, this indie plays on your "heart-strings" and is predictable, but I thought it was a beautiful film. The two leads here Jon Voight and Alexa Nisenson are superb in their roles, and the supporting cast is excellent as well.

Voight portrays Ben a curmudgeonly and aging man who has endured much tragedy in his life, but has maintained an affinity for his two horses which he keeps on his deteriorating ranch. Nisenson plays Shelly, an orphan who has just run away from an abusive foster family, and shares with Ben a love for horses.

The chemistry between the two works well, and soon Shelly will also bond with the horse she named Orphan on Ben's ranch. Meanwhile, a search by the police and social services continues to try and find the missing girl.

If you look past the cliches and just go with the flow of this movie you may find it as I did, most enjoyable and heart-rending. I'd say keep a box of tissues handy for the final 20 minutes or so.

To note: there were no subtitles on my DVD copy.

The two main characters, Jon Voight and Alexa Nisensen,play very well off each other and make you really like them. Voight's character is slightly reminiscent of Walter Matthau's in the movie Kotch. A superficially grouchy old guy who really cares a lot. One reviewer below seemed to dislike it because it was too cliched and full of tricks to tug at your emotions. He also complained that it had no subtitles. Subtitles?? It's in English, dude.

Yes, it may be "formulaic" in the tearjerker style, but after all, when you get down to it, don't most movies, or stories, follow some sort of type? And this one is very well done.

Very good direction and acting!!! We loved the cinematography and editing. Wonderful story!!!

Shelly (Alexa Nisenson) runs away from home and ends up at Ben Crowley's (John Voight) farm and she bonds with a horse she later names Orphan.

Just like every now and then we need a great big juicy cheeseburger, we also need to see a very nice story about a 12-year old girl and a horse. Yes, at times, this will get a little sappy, but we know that will happen and we are okay with it. We have our Kleenex boxes at the ready.

The real winner in here is the banter between Ben and Shelly as it is real, innocent and honest. This is a movie we never want to end mostly because we really like Ben and Shelly. I have never seen John Voight is a more comfortable role and I don't think he wanted this to end either. As for Miss Nisenson, she is 12 going on 30 and her character has had tragedy in her young Iife and her uttterances are full of honesty and truth. Ben has met his match and you may be able to see regrets in some of his reflections when Shelly causes some of his memories to surface.

Notables: Vail Bloom as Caroline, Ben's estranged daughter; Phillip Boyd as Sheriff Jake, who wants to marry Caroline; Eva LaRue as Marta Jenkins, Shelly's foster mother; Scott Summitt as Gerald Jenkins, Shelly's foster father.

This is a very good family movie and the dialogues are so good we don't want them to end. Now, do we want fries with that cheeseburger? Hmmm............... (9/10)

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Humor: Yes. Language: No. Rating: A

A well written story with the two main stars. Putting in a really great performance