Flicka with Tim McGraw and Alison Lohman
A Grrl and Her Horse
There’s a hysterical scene in Disney’s 1997 movie George of the Jungle where two minor characters ask, ‘what is it with chicks and horses?’ Flicka, a movie concept that’s been around the track a few times over the last 60 years, tries to answer that question.
Flicka is about three kindred spirits trying to understand one another. Spirited young Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) is a mustang who chafes under the iron hand of her father Rob (country singer Tim McGraw). She comes home to the family quarter horse ranch in rural Wyoming for the summer after botching her final paper of the year at boarding school and the school tells her not to return.
Before she tells her parents about her failure, Katy goes for a pre-dawn ride in the Wyoming countryside. There she comes across Flicka, a beguiling black mustang mare full of fury and fight.
Against her father’s best judgment, Flicka ends up on the family ranch and Katy works to tame the horse during nighttime visits.
During the days, a lot of anger and recriminations flair between Katy, her brother Howard (Ryan Kwanten), and their father. But the drama seems forced. Long before Nell McLaughlin (Maria Bello) tells her husband “When are you going to look at your daughter and realize she’s you?” we know that Flicka is Katy and Katy is Rob.
The movie trailer for Flicka made me think that the movie was going to be One Tree Hill on horseback. Refreshingly, it’s not. This is about a girl who falls in love with a horse, not a boy.
A lot of the drama depends on McGraw being a gigantic force of will in his family. But all McGraw’s able to pull off is a sort of general surliness. This is only his third film role, so it’s unfair to say that he’s not terribly good. Instead, let the blame fall on the casting director, director and producers for relying on McGraw to carry so much weight.
Flicka is rated PG “for some mild language.
Dollar Movie Review rates it a B-.
The Dollar Movie Review Grading System: The Dollar Movie Review grades on a curve. Movies that make choices to be course or vulgar are downgraded a full to a half grade or more. Likewise, movies that don’t gross out or offend too much can be upgraded as ‘a thanks for trying’ attaboy. Flicka was upgraded. I would have given it a C+ on its own merits. It got the upgrade because Flicka is clean and appropriate for the entire family. It's worth your time and your dollar.
There’s a hysterical scene in Disney’s 1997 movie George of the Jungle where two minor characters ask, ‘what is it with chicks and horses?’ Flicka, a movie concept that’s been around the track a few times over the last 60 years, tries to answer that question.
Flicka is about three kindred spirits trying to understand one another. Spirited young Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) is a mustang who chafes under the iron hand of her father Rob (country singer Tim McGraw). She comes home to the family quarter horse ranch in rural Wyoming for the summer after botching her final paper of the year at boarding school and the school tells her not to return.
Before she tells her parents about her failure, Katy goes for a pre-dawn ride in the Wyoming countryside. There she comes across Flicka, a beguiling black mustang mare full of fury and fight.
Against her father’s best judgment, Flicka ends up on the family ranch and Katy works to tame the horse during nighttime visits.
During the days, a lot of anger and recriminations flair between Katy, her brother Howard (Ryan Kwanten), and their father. But the drama seems forced. Long before Nell McLaughlin (Maria Bello) tells her husband “When are you going to look at your daughter and realize she’s you?” we know that Flicka is Katy and Katy is Rob.
The movie trailer for Flicka made me think that the movie was going to be One Tree Hill on horseback. Refreshingly, it’s not. This is about a girl who falls in love with a horse, not a boy.
A lot of the drama depends on McGraw being a gigantic force of will in his family. But all McGraw’s able to pull off is a sort of general surliness. This is only his third film role, so it’s unfair to say that he’s not terribly good. Instead, let the blame fall on the casting director, director and producers for relying on McGraw to carry so much weight.
Flicka is rated PG “for some mild language.
Dollar Movie Review rates it a B-.
The Dollar Movie Review Grading System: The Dollar Movie Review grades on a curve. Movies that make choices to be course or vulgar are downgraded a full to a half grade or more. Likewise, movies that don’t gross out or offend too much can be upgraded as ‘a thanks for trying’ attaboy. Flicka was upgraded. I would have given it a C+ on its own merits. It got the upgrade because Flicka is clean and appropriate for the entire family. It's worth your time and your dollar.
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