Seabiscuit Review

A rousing tale of the first order, 'Seabiscuit' revolves around three broken men in Depression-era America - Charles Howard, a millionaire racked by grief, Johnny 'Red' Pollard, a too-tall, half-blind failed jockey played by Tobey Maguire and Chris Cooper's Tom Smith, a cowboy whose world is vanishing all too quickly. Recruited by Howard as his horse trainer, Smith spots an undersized and knobbly-kneed bay called Seabiscuit that only he reckons is destined for greatness. So, after bagging a jockey as stroppy as his ride in Red, Smith and his backer Howard set their unlikely charges on a journey that will not only see the plucky underdogs win umpteen cups but unite the broken American nation in the process.

Yes, this is stirring stuff indeed. And while the movie's sepia-tinted packaging of history is arguably a mite unrealistic, 'Pleasantville' director Gary Ross packs in enough breathless racing sequences to maintain the tension. It's not faultless - the running time is perhaps a little too long and the general tone too solemn - but with Bridges, Maguire and Cooper heading a perfect ensemble cast that includes a show-stealing turn by William H. Macy, this will certainly be a frontrunner come Oscar time.