Seabiscuit
Take a true story of a hero horse, a down and out jockey and a true to his word owner who not only loves his horse but loves everything about the sport and you have a winner.
Film making 21/25
Cinematography 23/25
Audio 24/25
Bonus Features 23/25
Total 91/100
Film making does not get any better than this; you would have to add in a package of popcorn and a six pack of soda to get better entertainment from a Blu-ray box. Take a down and out lazy horse that owner Charles Howard, played by Jeff Bridges, thinks has a shot.
Throw in a trainer who knows the days of the cowboy are ending and he is one of the last but who understands and loves horses. Finally add a know it all but down and out jockey who really is too big for his britches and you have a winning mix for a horse race.
The owner has a horse that may be worth something but needs the help of a trainer, Tom Smith played by Chris Cooper who not only knows horses but loves them. The jockey, young and tough Red Pollard has plenty of personal problems but needs one chance to show what he can do in the saddle.
Then there is the horse Seabiscuit, a tough but smaller horse whose previous owner thought was lazy but the trainer, owner and jockey take him to his potential and beyond. Seabiscuit is fated to run alongside horses that are bigger and with more money behind them but he has an advantage.
Seabiscuit has the heart of a racer and through the tough times of the Depression shows how the horse that everyone thought was too small could be a winner. Seabiscuit is a great movie and well worth owning for a true to life inspiring story about believing in the future and what can be done when you put your heart and soul into it.
Seabiscuit races in quite a few races against larger horses but when it comes down to the final race against War Admiral Seabiscuit was not led to victory with Red Pollard in the saddle. Nine months before the race against War Admiral Red was in an accident and asked Howard if his old friend George Woolf could ride Seabiscuit.
Seabiscuit is the true story behind the horse that raced against War Admiral and won as well as winning several prestigious races to win the hearts of a country. Seabiscuit may not have won the Triple Crown but he did prove himself as a competitor and equal among the best horses to win the 1938 U.S. Horse of the Year.
Jeff Bridges, Tobey Maguire and Chris Cooper are great in their roles and really add heart to their parts to create a great atmosphere and feel for the story. The film gives all you could want with its great story and well created filming that adds a lot of depth to the true story.
Seabiscuit is well worth owning as a great film and the Blu-ray edition has all the extras you could want from making of features, true stories of the horse from A&E and more. The making of features show how they did things from a technical standpoint as well as the acting and directing required to give the film its feel and almost documentary look.
The audio commentary track includes Director Gary Ross and Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh which includes details only found here about creating the film. Other features include several making of additions, a real life look at the race compared to the filmed one and a look at the actors of the film.
There is also a 13 minute HBO special about the film and a 45 minute special about the real story of Seabiscuit from A&E which is great. The bonus content not only gives you a really close look at the film and how they did all they did with the story to film but also the real life story of a legend in horse racing.
The story of Seabiscuit is not only the story of how three men took a horse no one thought could win another race but a true inspiration for Americans in a time when everyone was losing hope for the future.