Sadly Over-hyped

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

When I saw the story-line for this, I thought that here was a story with some heartwarming possibilities. The disjointed delivery of the story didn't deliver.Of course you can guess where the story is going after you get into it, but it wandered while getting there and transitions weren't smooth. I think part of the problem was that there were too many characters that the film tried to focus on. Either Lilly or Claire would have made a great central character, but while the film leaned toward Claire, it was still divided and Sneed's performance just wasn't good enough, even for a 13 year old. Given the actors, I would have rather seen Claire minimized and have Lilly be the central focus. Either way, I think I would have found a stronger focus on either compelling but as was, I just didn't get drawn in.One of the central plot points, which was the deal made for the loan on Cal's ranch, was confusing. It really didn't make sense, but then neither did the fact that Cal didn't win a huge lawsuit for negligence from his accident thus negating the need for the loan.You might have expected a romance, but there really isn't one.The two actors with the longest resumes were big disappointments. Both Perry and Assante coasted through the film with little conviction.I think there were supposed to be moments of comedy with arrogant Marzo trying to train the horse and later with the color commentator at the contest. Marzo just fell flat and the commentator was so annoying, I couldn't stand it and had to fast forward through much of it.

The film was watchable. I love horses. But Armand Assante stumbled through his lines. Most of them completely mumbled. I actually went online to see if he had a stroke (like Kirk Douglas) because of his horrible lack of articulation. (Assante did NOT have a stroke...so there is no excuse for his poor performance).The film itself was a good family film, with a predictable story, but the distraction of Assante's poor delivery make the film far less enjoyable.The horses were amazing. Have ridden a paso fino in the past I was able to relate to the great training.If you love horses and/or the paso fino style, you will enjoy the film. Just ignore Assante's horrible acting.