Seabiscuit

The opening forty minutes (until Seabiscuit makes his first appearance) are absolutely superfluous and slow-moving. It’s great that the director wants to impart to us the motivations behind the actions of the characters, his overall opinion of the Great Depression and how important the story of Seabiscuit and the Pollards was back then. Unfortunately he does it in a way that is rather too descriptive and the narrator seems to repeat himself ten times over using exaggerated pathos, talking about people who never give up however hard the situation. So you see a great scene where everything becomes clear, but suddenly the narrator gets going, trying to explain everything to you. To start off with it doesn’t matter too much, but when it happens in every other scene, it spoils the whole movie. (03/06/2005)

Seabiscuit tempts with its plot and screenplay to be just an ordinary tearjerker, but in the end, it is everything but that. The message of loss and the desire to keep going at all costs screams from the film every minute, and thanks to it, this sports drama becomes truly unique. (01/16/2006)

Art with unique and meticulous direction by Gary Ross, excellent performances – Chris Cooper, in the role of the coach, is truly outstanding, Tobey Maguire proves that he can handle more serious roles than Spiderman, and Jeff Bridges is consistently great. It's not a mainstream film, and the box office won't be overflowing with cash, but it has substance and that's not insignificant. (05/13/2004)