Being a Disney film.....Secretariat was very well done. I recommend seeing it on the big screen because in the racing and training scenes...you feel like you are there. Based on the true story of Penny Chennery Tweedy and how she got into racing with her mother's passing and her father's dementia....her spirit and strength provided her with the means to make Secretariat a star.
Penny Tweedy was a consultant so the story was well told. I had a concern as to whether John Malkovich was the right choice to play a French Canadian horse trainer (ex jockey) but those concerns were put to rest...he was great!!!!
I had seen Diane Lane in a lot of films.....she was really really good in this one.
I remember as a teenager watching Secretariat and his rise to fame...I still get goose bumps and tear up when I watch you tube videos of his Derby and Belmont, and having missed out on Man O' War and Seabiscuit....he was in my era....I even have a polaroid I took of him in his paddock at Claiborne Farms in the 80's.
What this horse did was unmatched even today...what they didn't know at the time (until a necropsy) was that his heart was nearly twice the size of a normal horse....that boy could pump some blood!!!!! They said he was a machine but none of them knew how close that was to being correct.
The film has humor, happiness, sadness, excitement....just about everything almost anyone can enjoy. I saw teeny bopper girls cheering him on in the theater. I had memories flood back of being a young girl watching the races on tv.
Being Disney the music is fitting and doesn't run you out of the theater by being too loud and overbearing.
Drawback....I know the story is about Secretariat but there were other horses in the stable...Riva Ridge made his own run at the Triple Crown the year before....losing the Preakness in the mud....he wasn't even mentioned. It made it look like Secretariat was the only horse there.....Secretariat won the Horse of the Year as a two year old.....Riva Ridge, his three year old stablemate was the other major contender.
This film was pretty true to what I know about Secretariat and the people around him.....it was very well done and exciting to watch. The race scenes made you feel like you were there and the shots of the horses and scenery were breathtaking.......a great picture for everyone!!!!