I heard a lot about this movie during my childhood but never had a chance of seeing it. In 2019 (quite coincidentally the day of my 20th birthday) I had the chance of finally seeing it. And while I didn't loved it, I still liked it.
When the film begins we see a circus that is forced to move his tents and animals as there is a thunderstorm. The crate cointaining baby Stripes falls from the truck with his parents and few hours later is found by Channing Walsh (Hayden Panettiere) and her dad Nolan (Bruce Greenwood) that decide to take it to their farm. Once there, Stripes (voiced by Frankie Muniz) meets and befriends some of the animals; Shetland pony Tucker, Saneen goat Franny and pelican Goose (voiced by Dustin Hoffman, Whoopie Goldberg and Joe Pantoliano) and Stripes also thinks that he could be a race horse despite fails. After lots of training and even fighting with Sir Trenton's (Fred Dalton Thompson) hench-horses, he manages to win the first prize.
This film was very similar to BABE as the zebra wanted to be a race horse just like Babe wanted to be a sheep dog. And while I agree a bit with the other reviewers that it looks like very copied from that much better movie, I still think it worked. I really rooted for Stripes as I knew that he could make it at the end.
The voice acting was good and my favourite of all the dubbed animals was Goose as he loved to quote THE GODFATHER. The human acting is actually better. Hayden Panettiere gives a remarkable turn as the girl who accept to race with Stripes and the always underrated Bruce Greenwood is very good as her dad.
Overall, while I don't think it's a great family movie it's just harmless enough for letting your small kids seeing it without being offended or having the parents nearby for reassuring them that it all will be fine. And even for a film to brighten up your humour, then this movie is perfect for this goal too if you don't have too many expectations.
When the film begins we see a circus that is forced to move his tents and animals as there is a thunderstorm. The crate cointaining baby Stripes falls from the truck with his parents and few hours later is found by Channing Walsh (Hayden Panettiere) and her dad Nolan (Bruce Greenwood) that decide to take it to their farm. Once there, Stripes (voiced by Frankie Muniz) meets and befriends some of the animals; Shetland pony Tucker, Saneen goat Franny and pelican Goose (voiced by Dustin Hoffman, Whoopie Goldberg and Joe Pantoliano) and Stripes also thinks that he could be a race horse despite fails. After lots of training and even fighting with Sir Trenton's (Fred Dalton Thompson) hench-horses, he manages to win the first prize.
This film was very similar to BABE as the zebra wanted to be a race horse just like Babe wanted to be a sheep dog. And while I agree a bit with the other reviewers that it looks like very copied from that much better movie, I still think it worked. I really rooted for Stripes as I knew that he could make it at the end.
The voice acting was good and my favourite of all the dubbed animals was Goose as he loved to quote THE GODFATHER. The human acting is actually better. Hayden Panettiere gives a remarkable turn as the girl who accept to race with Stripes and the always underrated Bruce Greenwood is very good as her dad.
Overall, while I don't think it's a great family movie it's just harmless enough for letting your small kids seeing it without being offended or having the parents nearby for reassuring them that it all will be fine. And even for a film to brighten up your humour, then this movie is perfect for this goal too if you don't have too many expectations.