One of the latest fads these days is combining a relatively unknown director with several available celebrity voices (in between more important projects) and making an animated or live action film with computer generated effects (CGI). Hayden Panettiere, prior to her Heroes' days, stars in this CGI-assisted live action film about a put upon zebra left by a roadside and adopted by a teenage girl and her father. This film is full of every cliché in the book. From cute talking animals with questionable CGI effects to the cutest teenage girl since Hilary Duff, the film trots out all the usual suspects in this "family" film that even some families will find clichéd, cutesy, dull, and predictable from minute to minute. Even the animals voiced by familiar celebrities add little. Dustin Hoffman as Tucker, the Shetland Pony coach, comes off best. Whoopi Goldberg plays a goat acting as a referee; Mandy Moore is the love interest horse, and Frankie Muniz is Stripes the zebra. M. Emmet Walsh as Woodzie the crusty race gambler is the best thing in the movie next to young Hayden. It's cutesy, low brow entertainment that judiciously avoided the alternative ending for its rated G audience. *1/2 of 4 stars.
Review of Racing Stripes
