Flicka (2006)

One of my all time favorites.

Admirable film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I am trying to be objective when rating movies on here. As an example, I gave my favourite movie a 9, and Flicka (an 8 on my scale) has always been my second favourite. However, I'm not sure I can stay completely objective on this one, because I see a lot of people don't think it's that great, and yet I can't give it any less than 8.Flicka is a horse movie, I have to face that fact. This is probably why it's not as loved by the casual viewer as it is by me. When I first watched it I was a horse person. I'm not really anymore, but I still adore them, and that might affect my view on Flicka.To me it's more than a horse movie. It has a bare minimum of romance, which I like, not because I don't like romance, but because so many stories are about more than that. But it is a story about love; a girl's love to a wild horse, and her battle to tame it in spite of her father. It's about a father's journey to getting to know and respect his daughter, and a family learning to break the silence and speak up about what bothers them. Her brother's sub plot is very touching to me, and the parents' relationship is a nice touch. This movie is warming and heart-breaking, and if you like horses or family love, or best of all, both, this movie will definitely make you feel, maybe even cry.

Just watched this on Netflix disc with my mom. Now I had heard of the Roddy McDowall version from 1943 and I know it was based on Mary O'Hara's novel but it wasn't until I watched this that I even saw a story of the horse Flicka on screen. So I didn't feel much affected when I found out that the leading character was a teenage girl instead of a pre-teen boy. I mean, Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) is quite stubborn in getting what she wants and she definitely wants this wild mustang horse she calls Flicka after that horse saves her from a cougar. But because her father (Tim McGraw) doesn't think Flicka should mix with his more genteel horses, that puts a conflict between him and his daughter with the mother (Maria Bello) and older brother (Ryan Kwanten) stuck in the middle. I'll stop there and just say that I highly enjoyed the whole thing especially the way it ended and so on that note, I recommend Flicka.

I had heard of this film from somewhere, and I knew it was about a horse, and I guess I was kind of interested to see if I would agree with the two stars out of five the critics give it, so I watched it. Basically Katherine 'Katy' McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) is the daughter of rancher Rob McLaughlin (Tim McGraw), and she hopes to one day take over the family ranch, her father however hopes her older brother Howard (True Blood's Ryan Kwanten) will take over. She has failed to complete her high school essay and naturally faces her father's disappointment, but things perk up when she comes across a Mustang horse during a close encounter with a lion. Katy plans to capture this horse and train to ride on, this is an effort to prove she can take responsibility to run the ranch, she names the (female) horse Flicka, and her father is not best pleased. As time goes by she tries to do everything possibly to keep the horse calm and teach it the lessons it needs to be tamed, but eventually Flicka is sold to rodeo to be used in races. With some help from brother Howard, and dressing as a man, Katy manages to get on and rescue the horse from her new stronghold, and they ride away to make their way home again. However they have another encounter with a lion, and Flicka ends up seriously injured, while Katy become ill during the storm they are caught in, there is the possibility the horse will have euthanized, and sure enough there is an overheard gunshot. Katy for a while is depressed, but she is overjoyed to see that Flicka is still alive, the shot fired was on the lion, and the horse has made a remarkable recovery, the film ends with them riding together peacefully through the mountains of Wyoming. Also starring Coyote Ugly's Maria Bello as Nell McLaughlin, Jeffrey Nordling as Rick Koop, Danny Pino as Jack, Dallas Roberts as Gus and Kaylee DeFer as Miranda Koop. If you imagine Black Beauty meets Seabiscuit or something like that, then that is pretty much how to sum up this horse movie, the acting is corny but alright, the locations look nice, and the story is full of schmaltz and sentimental stuff that make it rather predictable, but if you like horses then it is not too terrible drama. Okay!

During the rodeo the thing that bugs me the most is the barrel racing. It's like the movie is trying to make fun of the sport. If they're going to film a barrel race, they need to have someone who knows what they're doing, on a horse that knows what it's doing. In the movie they have a horse that has no idea what its doing with an inexperienced rider. Also, the chute dogging sucked. I know plenty of kids who are only in junior rodeo who can do so much better than what was shown in this movie.Now granted, the rest of the movie was a great recreation, but I still like the original better. They changed the movie here and there, all around it was great. I just wish that they had spent a little bit of money just to get people to come in for the rodeo who have experience in that area. I mean come on, the focus of the movie is about horses. The least they could do is not disrespect people who rodeo for a living.