Dreamer

DREAMER

REVIEWED BY RISSI C.

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Rated:

You are a great champion. When you ran the ground shook. The sky opened and mere mortals parted. Parted the way to victory. Where you will meet me in the winners circle. Where I will lay a blanket of flowers on your back.

Today it is so hard to find a good, clean family movie. Having read lots of reviews and articles about Dreamer, I was hopeful that it would not only be a wonderful family film, but also a great story. I was not disappointed.

Horse trainer Ben Crane (Kurt Russell) is struggling to make ends meet. He has a good job as a stable manager and he intends to keep it. Which is the reason why he keeps breaking his promise to take his stubborn daughter Cale (Dakota Fanning) to work with him. When she stops him one morning, he finally gives in. While at a race that afternoon for the horse he’s training, he notices that there is something wrong with the horse’s leg. Concerned, he advises the owner not to run her. When the owner runs her anyway, she is injured in the race. Cale and her dad bring the horse, Sonador home with them, after the vet has told them she will never race again. Ben asks his estranged father Pop Crane (Kris Kristofferson), who is a horse expert, for help in caring for Sona. With the aid of Ben’s two employees Maonlin (Freddy Rodriguez) and Balon (Luis Guzman), they begin to nurse Sona back to health.

Cale little by little begins to earn Sona’s trust, forming a bond between them. During the long process of helping Sona, Cale attempts to bring her dad and grandfather back together with the support of her mother Lily (Elisabeth Shue). When Cale tries to run away with Sona, she takes off at racing speed. Close in pursuit of Sona, Balon and Maonlin are amazed. They return to Ben and report that she’s ready to race. Shocked that she has made such a full recovery, they begin to train her for the track. With the training complete, Cale decides to go for a dream that could change their lives or ruin all their hopes for Sona.

Even with the odds against them, Cale continues to believe in Sona.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of objective content in this film. There’s about five times that language is used briefly, including Cale using a rude remark when rejecting an offer for Sona. Three scenes have Cale being defiant or disobedient to her parents. Once she stands in front of her dad’s truck until he allows her to come with him, in another scene she becomes upset in when her horse is taken from her, and she attempts to run away on one occasion. Dakota Fanning was perfect in the role; she’s an amazing little actress! The whole movie was well cast. I could really see a resemblance between Kurt Russell and Kris Kristofferson. Some of my favorite scenes in this film are between Russell and Fanning. They are really marvelous together as father and daughter. Another favorite scene of mine is between Elisabeth Shue and Kurt Russell. Their teasing banter leads you to believe that they still have that spark in their marriage after all those years. It was a charming scene.

I highly recommend this movie. It had an amazing cast and wonderful story, two things that are very important to me. Another thing that was great to see was the fact that the Crane family was able to overcome past differences and hurtful memories to become close again. As someone who doesn’t know anything about horses, I can’t say anything about the horses or the training. In the making-of feature they talk about filming the movie in some of the best known horse country. If you are a fan of Christian recording artist Bethany Dillon, it might be fun to know that she wrote the song Dreamer for the original soundtrack. One of the features of the DVD is her music video. This is one of the best family films I have ever seen it has been added to my top ten list of family favorites joining 2005’s Chronicles of Narnia, National Treasure and Night at the Museum. I would recommend this for families with kids ten and up.