| Moving out in the midst of a moonless thunderstorm, a circus, in the tumult and confusion, leaves behind a baby zebra on a deserted country road. Nolan Walsh (Bruce Greenwood), a retired horse trainer finds it and brings it home to his young daughter Channing (Hayden Panettiere) who instantly loves the foal and names it “Stripes”. In the Walsh farm, Stripes is welcomed by the assorted barnyard residents led by an aging Shetland pony named Tucker, Franny, a sensible old goat, a city pelican named Goose who’s hiding out from authorities, Reggie, a rooster whose crowing at the crack of dawn and nervous cackling keeps everyone on tenterhooks, and a bloodhound ironically named Lightning who lazily naps through all the excitement. Adjacent to the farm is the Dalrymple Estate which is home to thoroughbreds trained to win the most coveted prize in the Kentucky Open. Unaware that he is not a horse, Stripes dreams of competing in the races though taunted and despised regarding his different appearance and his lack of skills, he doggedly trains with some help from Tucker who used to coach race horses in his prime. Stripes’ hopes are buoyed up by his new farm friends and a beautiful white mare Sandy from the Dalrymple Estate. Channing, on the other hand, has dreams of becoming a horse jockey but is discouraged by his father who has given up horse raising since the death of his wife, a jockey. Furthermore, Lara Dalrymple, the owner of the neighborhood thoroughbreds and arrogant “queen” of the racing circuit, strongly denies Stripes, being a zebra, the opportunity to race. Yet, Stripes continues to nurse his ambitions of becoming the best racehorse in the Kentucky Open.
Much of the appeal of his heartwarming comedy is due to the suitable choice of veteran screen performers who used their voices to help define and differentiate the “personalities” in the animal farm, credit must be given to Dustin Hoffman for the “characterization” of the mellowed but still stout hearted Tucker, the has-been race horse coach; Mandy Moore for making the white filly Sandy sound as gentle, kind and beautiful as she looks; Joe Pantoliano for giving voices to the funny rabble-rouser Goose; Whoopi Goldberg for voicing the calming good senses of the old goat Franny; Jeff Foxworthy for the nervous and hysterical rooster Reggie; Joshua Jackson for the arrogant bully, the thoroughbred “Trentron’s Pride”; and Steve Harvey and David Space for the horsefly duo Buzz and Scuzz. Though all the other animals are real and at times their lips do not synchronize with the human voices, the two horse flies are done with expert animation and delightfully entertain the children in the audience with their antics, songs and dances. The movie is for children but the sight of such beautiful race horses can be a pleasure to horse racing aficionados. This movie recalls an old favorite picture National Velvet, the first movie of a very young Elizabeth Taylor who believed in riding her discredited horse to victory in a derby. But Racing Stripes has very good special effects.
Racing Stripes may be a children’s movie but it has values or ideas that may be worth considering even by adults for they mirror attitudes and behavioral patterns in our adult world, such as the heartless tendency of the crowd or majority to down grade or criticize one that is different in appearance or background; the use of brute force by those who have power to pressure anyone who threatens their interest or position; the use of unfair tactics like kidnapping a loved one as a kind of pressure; the arrogance of those who are born to privilege or a with a pedigree like that of the thoroughbreds; destruction of property as a means (like what the pelican did) to face people or to achieve a goal. Some positive values stand out like the love and understanding between members of a family; true friendship as shown by helping one in need, supporting and encouraging one who is down; the realization that one cannot compete and succeed if one is unprepared for the task; the need to be persevering and determined to achieve a goal; the need to work hard and discipline oneself to succeed; and the need for self-awareness, to really know about oneself and to be accepting of one’s limitations and to work hard to overcome these.
(Date
Reviewed: February 4, 2005)
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