Customer Reviews

Seabiscuit (Widescreen)

5 star:		(101)
4 star:		(50)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

The story begins by showing the American dream. Henry Ford is building cars and inventing the assembly line. It appears that prosperity is something everyone can achieve and optimism is high. Then, the depression hits. Where people once owned cars for pleasure and convenience, for some, their car may be their only remaining possession.

Charles Howard (Bridges) is a man who started with 21 cents in his pocket and turned it into what most would consider a successful business. He owns a big house and his wife and son seem to be happy. That changes in an instant the day his young son decides to take the car for a spin and ends up being killed in the resulting crash. Howard's wife leaves and he's left behind to rebuild his life.

This is the story of unlikely success and second chances. Howard finds new love when he encounters Marcela (Elizabeth Banks) and eventually remarries. He also decides to invest in a horse. His trainer is Tom Smith (Cooper), who has been written off as crazy by most people. His jockey is Red Pollard (Maguire), who has a temper, a history of losing, and has never been considered good at what he does. Howard spends $2,000 on Seabiscuit. The horse has good breeding, but is undersized, apparently lazy, and not likely to become a winner.

Each of these damaged characters gets a second chance in life. We see Smith training Seabiscuit. The horse is unruly and will only let Pollard ride him. Howard knows nothing about racing, but he's a loyal owner and believes in his team of misfits.

As you can see, there's nothing remarkable about the story so far. But something makes us root for Seabiscuit. The race sequences place the viewer right among the action. It looks and sounds so real that you'll feel as if you are riding one of the horses.

The live action is broken up occasionally with black and white photographs depicting people who grew up in this era. It made me think of people no longer with us. They all had lives, hopes and dreams. You can see some of that optimism in their smiles.

The film is good at a making you reflect on the past. One major story thread involves Howard's attempts to set up a match race with Triple Crown winner War Admiral. People desperately want to see the two meet, but War Admiral's owner is against the idea and doesn't consider the challenge worthy.

The film leaves out a lot of historical details and focuses on a few races rather than Seabiscuit's entire career. As a result, some of the events did not occur exactly as suggested. But it doesn't ruin the story if you watch it without knowing the full history.

I won't reveal any more of the plot. The acting is very good, as you would expect from actors of this quality. Bridges and Cooper are particularly effective. If you avoid films about animals because you don't like to see them get hurt, no horses die at any point. Two suffer injuries, but it's essential to the plot and ends happily.

Seabiscuit captured the nation's imagination in the 1930s and represented hope when people needed it most. The story is inspirational and is one of the best sports films I've seen. Any Oscar hopes were crushed by Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but it was nominated in seven categories.

Seabiscuit looked as though it could have been a really good movie. There haven't been a whole lot of stories about horse racing. So, it seemed to be a novel idea.

On the good side, The movie has marvelous production value and is obvious the makers were attempting to achieve an oscar for their studio. But, that is the only thing I can say in its favor.

The story has characters and themes that you SHOULD care about and root for. Red Pollard (played by TOBEY MAGUIRE), is a consiment underdog. An ill-tempered, former bare hand boxer who has been dismissed and forgotten his entire life. Yet, the movie never truly executes this feeling, or resolves it.

Seabiscuit wins race after race, showing signs of super intelligence when it comes to racing and competing. Knowing when it's losing and not liking it, and we're supposed to feel as if it were some kind of underdog. The horse is fast, a top notch racer and it never shows any sign of anything different.

What the movie needed more than anything was more moments between Pollard and Seabiscuit. Bonding. The movie needed to show them becoming one, becoming a team and more importantly, becoming inseparable friends. In this, it failed. It tried. But, it failed.

The biggest dramatic moment in the entire yawner of a movie is when Red Pollard is the victim of a freak accident that you see coming a mile away, (and so should have he if he'd been around horses all his life) injuring his leg and being told he'll never be able to race again.

All in all, the true problem with SEABISCUIT is the story itself or the script itself. And it's biggest failure is its attempt to make the viewers believe that horse racing is something OTHER than a game for the sole purpose of making the super rich, RICHER.

It is not only the story of this magnificient horse, it is the story of courage and determination of many persons in a very hard time of this last century.
It is a true Story and it is make you thinking on yourself too !!!
How we been react in the same situations.

Buy this DVD.....you will never see the horses, the same way.
I have horses...so was very interesting for me.

This film has many of the qualities of an epic: exceptional production values & cast that place it in the same class as "Braveheart" or "Gangs Of New York". I see no reason why it would not be appropriate for kids, either. Like "Cold Mountain", another epic, I feel this movie is meant to be enjoyed without too much analysis. I particularly enjoyed Jeff Bridges' performance, having just watched him in a very different role in "Masked and Anonymous" in which he plays a Woodstock-era reporter. His promotional tours on behalf of a Sea Biscuit-War Admiral matchup are effective. Toby McGuire is also quite good as the troubled,hard-luck jockey, blind in one eye, who spends his off hours spinning foreign tall tales with his jockey friends; so is the humorous radio reporter and also real-life jockey Gary Stevens. The movie's first hour is filled with quite a bit of Depression-era history which adds to the bravura of the film, as do the later Mexican segments. It is perhaps historically inaccurate to portray Seabiscuit as an underdog, however, he was equal in size, I have read somewhere, to War Admiral. The movie, however, emphasizes that the trainer takes hard luck cases like Seabiscuit, who was lazy, and turns them into winners. Imdb.com has pointed out the numerous anachronisms in the film; they claim,for example, that a statue of Seabiscuit is clearly visible in the Santa Anita Raceway segments, and that the starting gates used in most of the races are historically inaccurate ; I doubt this would be much concern to the average viewer. One possible trouble with these Hollywood epics this and the others mentioned above is that they are pure escapism, that in all likelihood the eras portrayed in these movies were not so glamorous as they are portrayed, except perhaps for a select few. You can perhaps excuse Nicole Kidman's glamourous portrayal in "Cold Mountain" because her character was from a big city--Charleston.No matter how you cut it, despite humble beginnings and even despite the tragic loss of a son, a successful racehorse owner's life is a privileged one.

Having read about Seabiscuit and having been a racing fan for a number of years, I thouroughly enjoyed this movie. I especially thought that Gary Stevens did a wonderful acting job. The racing scenes were quite realistic and the special effects were wonderful. I also liked the bonus features as they gave the viewer an even better idea of what racing was really like. The scenes out at the farm were beautiful and the soundtrack delightful.

If you haven't read the book, this is one of the few cases where I think it might be a better idea to see the movie and then read the book. The book is a bit more detailed and throws the reader into the era better than the movie.

This story is a bit of a fairy tale but back in the 20's and 30's, the world of racing was not like it is today. Jockeys had it really hard and some of that is lost in the translation to the screen. Even today, a jockey's life is not easy and I recommend viewing the documentary "Jockey" as a follow up to this to all interested parties.

My few complaints about "Seabiscuit" are as follows: I happened to see a scene at Santa Anita and lo and behold caught a glimpse of the statue of Seabiscuit that is really there today and wasn't when this movie takes place! I guess the average viewer wouldn't know that but it did insult the intelligence of the true fan!

Secondly, jockey's didn't ride in the same position back then as they do today. Today, the stirrups are so short as the jockey appears to sit on his heels. Back then, knees weren't bent as far, they rode more like a cowboy then a jockey. This should've been corrected as we all know that Gary Stevens could probably ride a horse in any position and do it well!

Thirdly, I didn't feel like it was in the 30's. The Sting did a much better job of giving that aura. This movie did not.

All in all, I did love it!

I originally had my doubts about this movie. I saw the previews and really wasn't that interested. But my dad went and saw this movie and said he was going to buy it when it came out on DVD. Getting my father to go see movies is like pulling teeth and he had never bought a movie before in his life. So naturally this got my curiosity up and I went to see Seabiscuit. I would rank this movie with Citizen Kane and A Beautiful Mind. Don't miss it.

I find it only good if you are liking horses and want to watch as it is based on a true story. I found it to have way too much swearing for my kids to watch.

Astonishingly well thought of popcorn populism flick. I can see why it did so well. It hits its target audiences perfectly. There are 2 target audiences for this movie.
The first is the casual movie goer who sees very few movies and for whom going to a movie is a real treat. These folks go to about one movie a month and usually pick something safe, unchallenging and harmless, like Seabiscuit. They are easily pleased because they have modest standards and see so few movies, they don't really know how good movies can really be. Its a big, pretty movie with lots recognizable faces, confortingly stereotypical characters, canned dialogue and a prepackaged ending. Thus, the viewer goes to work and tells everyone there the movie was fun and good to take kids to and thats all most folks need to get the kids out of the house on a Saturday night.
The second target audience is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Movie critics. These guys see so many movies all the time, they have no choice but to boil each movie down to its bare essentials. Is it heartfelt? Is it fun? Is it reasonably well acted? Is the cinematography pretty? Does it deliver the goods? The average movie critic sees a movie once, scribbling notes throughout then its off to type up the review and tomorrow is another movie. They have to have a checklist to know what to look for because they haven't time to analyze ever little bit of it. Most filmmakers aren't stupid. They know what critics are looking for and Seabiscuit is almost a welcome relief to critics. It basically does their job for them. The critics write positive reviews and everyone gets what they want.

most movies don't deserve the hype but this movie was great. I knew nothing about Seabiscuits story and the story of the people he touched but after watching this movie I plan on reading the book. I really liked how part of this movie was kind of like a Ken Burn's film and I thought all the actors did a great job. This is a movie for everyone

Gary Ross' SEABISCUIT is more than just a tale of a horse. The movie is the story of three men who have lost much and gain much more through this determined horse.
Tobey Maguire, excellent as Red Pollard, has lost his family, eyesight in one eye, and eventually he is nearly crippled in a tragic accident. His indomitable spirit, however, is recaptured by riding and loving Seabiscuit.
Jeff Bridges, outstanding as Howard, lost his son to a tragic auto accident, eventually his wife, and a lot of money during the great crash. He marries a lovely girl (played quite well by Elizabeth Banks) and through Red and Seabiscuit, he too regains a life.
The excellent Chris Cooper is a cowboy who has lost his land....we see him touching a barbwired fence which imprisons what was once a cowboy's land. His gentleness and his knowledge of horses catapults him into the spotlight, and he too regains his dignity.
The whole cast and the expert direction of Gary Ross gives SEABISCUIT a dramatic and entertaining lift; William H. Macy as Ticktock, the radio deejay, is fabulous and adds a lot of humor to his role.