The reimaging of Mary O’Hara’s popular novel My Friend Flicka makes its way to DVD. However, the tinkering with the story may turn off some fans of the novel and the 1943 movie adaptation.
16 year old Katy (Alison Lohman) is away at and expensive private boarding school but is missing her old Wyoming home. She’s missing it so much that she fails to write a word in her final essay - instead preferring to daydream her essay about the family’s Wyoming ranch. She goes home for summer break hoping that her failing grades will not come to light (you know that’s not gonna happen).
Flicka
Her parents, Rob (Tim McGraw) and Nell (Maria Bello), are struggling to make a living since the thoroughbred business is not what it used to be. When Katy comes home, she confides in her brother Howard (Ryan Kwanten) about her failing grades and he confides that he doesn’t want to stay and run the ranch the way his father had envisioned. Katy decides to try and forget her woes by riding around the ranch. She’s out in the hills when she’s attacked by a cougar, but is saved when the animal is scared away by a wild mustang.
Katy quickly becomes obsessed with taming the animal. Unfortunately, by this time her parents have found out about her grades and are pretty mad because of the money troubles that they’re having. Dad sees a way to earn a few bucks since the local rodeo owner wants wild mustangs for his show. Katy is beside herself and this leads to a rift between father and daughter.
First off, I must admit that I’m not the audience for this film. The filmmakers have obviously aimed this film to 16 year old girls or younger kids. I say this because the novel’s hero was a nine year old boy (played in the 1943 film by Roddy McDowall). It seems obvious to me that this change was made to appeal to an audience that could sympathize with the heroine.
However, they cast an actress in the lead that is a good decade older than our heroine is supposed to be, and it’s pretty obvious that she’s too old to be playing the role. She probably could pass for a twenty year old, but definitely not a sixteen year old. They also give Katy a cute brother for the girls to drool over.
Maria Bello and Tim McGraw
The problem with the character is that she never really gets the audience’s sympathy since she seems not too understanding about the ranch’s money troubles and more obsessed with the horse. I really sympathized more with her poor father than Katy. He’s just trying to make enough money to keep the family ranch and also pay Katy’s expensive school bill. It doesn’t matter to Katy, and she can’t seem to see his side of the coin. She may want to return and own the ranch but if pops loses it to the bank then she won’t have anything to come back to.
Tim McGraw really isn’t too bad for a singer turned actor. I thought he was better than the star. Maria Bello is wonderful, as always (and is the item that is in the film for me to drool over).
Flicka is presented in a dual sided release. One side contains the fullscreen version and the other side contains the widescreen (2.35:1) version that’s enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Special features include an audio commentary by director Michael Mayer (on both sides). The widescreen side contains Tim McGraw’s 2 minute music video of “My Little Girl,” 4 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, 2 minutes of bloopers, and a 2 minute gag reel. The fullscreen side contains a selection of previews for Fox films.
Flicka did not particularly appeal to me and I think that fans of the 1943 film and novel will be irked by the changes. I did not hate the film, but I didn’t feel that it rose to the classic status that the 1943 film did. On the other hand, my kids enjoyed it (and didn’t take Dad’s side about selling the horse). So it really depends on numerous factors as to where you’ll like the film or not.
The family rallies around Flicka
Flicka is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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