message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

   
Dreamer  Rated PG
Directed by John Gatins. Starring Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning.

Photo © Copyright DreamWorks Pictures
It’s really a pleasure to see a positive, wholesome and entertaining family film that will appeal to younger viewers and adults without talking down to kids or loading the script with “hip” jokes for the parents.  Dreamer tells a simple story of a horse trainer and his daughter who take care of a horse with a broken leg and, in the process, find something to believe in and something worth fighting for.  Kurt Russell gives a great understated performance as the father and Dakota Fanning once again proves that she is the most precocious and likeable child star since Shirley Temple (now if we could only get her to sing and tap dance…).  The cast is filled with wonderful character actors who do magic with a meat-and-potatoes by-the-numbers script.  Sure, it’s corny, but it’s “inspired by a true story”! The horse was 1995’s Mariah Storm – and she is even mentioned in this movie.  (Talk about truth in advertising!)  Dreamer celebrates such moral virtues as mercy, forgiveness, and love and it has a big heart, as well.  This is comfort food for a cold autumn afternoon and a nice time at the movies.

Pitchfork Rating: Five halos.  (A wholesome film about second chances, horses, and family, not necessarily in that order.) 
No pitchforks

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