Secretariat – movie review

Secretariat is Disney’s newest movie and is based on the true story of a racing horse named Secretariat. Secretariat’s mother was inherited by the daughter of the previous owner, and shortly after changing hands, the mare gives birth to Secretariat. From the first everyone knows that he is a special horse. His new owner appears to be a typical homemaker, yet soon she discovers a chance to be much more with the help of Secretariat. Together they reach great heights in their fight to stay on top of the race track and the owner’s personal life.

While this film was written and produced by Disney, the target for this film is tweens and older. This is partly due to the fact that they do have a couple sad parts in it, and in part because the time is the 1960s/70s. It shows during the time how tough it was for a homemaker to be seen as a serious worker. An example of this is when Penny Chenery–who owns Secretariat–was at one of the press conferences before one of the Triple Crown races, and her biggest competitor was making snarky comments about her being a homemaker.

The characters all held their own; none of them are outshone by the others, though the horse that played Secretariat could be considered the real star of the show. Still, as a whole, the cast did well and they really made Secretariat what it is. I do not recall any of the characters not playing their roles well or even feeling as if this movie was a movie. They all made it seem like this was happening in real time, and you can tell that the actors were really feeling the emotions in the movie. It was really one of the better played out movies based on true stories.

As for the plot, as I said above, this movie really has a lot of emotion to it. At times it was a bit too much emotion for a movie, and that really brought the story to life. The hopes, the fears, and everything in between all had that fresh feeling to them. The only bad thing about that was the fact that the sad parts made the sadness real even for those who are watching it. But when it turns around, you feel your own hopes rise with Penny’s. Basically, be prepared to have your emotions go strong when watching this movie. Also, they had a tiny bit of comedy involved which lightened up the mood a good amount when needed. But they did not over do the jokes or comedy in it.I also want to add that the set, clothes and make-up were fabulous for the era that this story takes place in. Disney really outdid themselves, and I enjoyed seeing the very real-looking clothes. They brought the era back without feeling as if they were faking the 1970’s or late 60’s. Which is hard for most movies, but Disney had a great team who helped create the past. They did a smooth crossover from the 60’s to the 70’s in fashion and hair, without making it seem as if it was an overnight change. That helped create the more real life image to the transition, as that was how it likely did happen in real life.

For the proper age group and who should see it, that could be a little bit tricky. As I said, I feel like tweens and older should see the movie. However, since this movie also has a decent amount of positive messages, like following your heart and believing in yourself, it could work as a family movie. But be prepared to have to talk about a few heavy topics if you show it to younger kids. Secretariat is not exactly a light movie, and since it is based on a real story it could be a great history lesson for some kids.

To wrap this up, I will say that this was one of the better family movies made in a long while. It can be used as a family friendly movie or just a film for older kids to watch. It would definitely a movie that I would watch again, and I really was surprised by how it turns out. I will admit that I was not expecting much from this movie, but in the end I can say that I really liked it. Disney targeted the right group of people and they really made it work for that age group. Now, for the 1 to out of 10 rating, I will give this a 9, all the way.