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Seabiscuit (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:197
Fresh:152
Rotten:45
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: A life-affirming, if saccharine, epic treatment of a spirit-lifting figure in sports history.
Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $120,147,445
Synopsis: You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little. It is a story that inspired a nation…and one that almost didn't happen. It is the story of a country whose dreams had... You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little. It is a story that inspired a nation…and one that almost didn't happen. It is the story of a country whose dreams had been shattered…and the people who found a hero in an average horse that could achieve the unthinkable. It is the story of three lost men-Johnny "Red" Pollard (TOBEY MAGUIRE), a young man whose spirit had been broken; Charles Howard (four-time Oscar® nominee JEFF BRIDGES), a millionaire who lost everything; and Tom Smith (Academy Award® winner CHRIS COOPER), a cowboy whose world was vanishing-who found each other and discovered hope in an unlikely place. The odds were incredible. The dream was impossible… And somehow, it actually happened. From Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker GARY ROSS (Pleasantville, Dave) comes the motion picture adaptation of the story that transfixed a nation from one of the most beloved and widely-read non-fiction books of the past decade: Seabiscuit. To film the tale of the down-and-out racehorse that took the entire nation on the ride of a lifetime, screenwriter/director/producer Ross has assembled an impressive list of seasoned and accomplished filmmaking talent, both in front of and behind the camera. Joining Maguire, Bridges and Cooper in the cast are ELIZABETH BANKS (Catch Me If You Can, Spider-Man) as Marcela Howard, Charles Howard's wife; Hall of Fame Jockey GARY STEVENS (in his motion picture debut) as George "The Iceman" Woolf; and Academy Award® nominee WILLIAM H. MACY (Fargo, Boogie Nights) as reporter "Tick-Tock" McGlaughlin. Producing, along with Gary Ross, are prolific and Oscar®-nominated filmmakers KATHLEEN KENNEDY (A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Sixth Sense) and FRANK MARSHALL (Signs, The Bourne Identity), and JANE SINDELL. The film is based on the best-selling book by LAURA HILLENBRAND. GARY BARBER (Bruce Almighty, Shanghai Knights), ROGER BIRNBAUM (Bruce Almighty, The Recruit), the film's Tobey Maguire, ALLISON THOMAS (Pleasantville) and ROBIN BISSELL (Pleasantville) serve as executive producers. Collaborating with Ross to re-create the world of the first decades of the 20th Century are director of photography JOHN SCHWARTZMAN, A.S.C. (The Rookie, Armageddon); two-time Oscar®-nominated production designer JEANNINE OPPEWALL (L.A. Confidential, Pleasantville); Academy Award®-nominated film editor WILLIAM GOLDENBERG, A.C.E. (Ali, The Insider); double Oscar®-nominated costume designer JUDIANNA MAKOVSKY (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Pleasantville); and Academy Award®-winning composer RANDY NEWMAN (Monsters, Inc., Toy Story). [More]
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, William H. Macy
Director: Gary Ross
Director: Gary Ross
Screenwriter: Gary Ross
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gary Ross, Jane Sindell
Composer: Randy Newman
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Seabiscuit
Inspiring to the end, Seabiscuit is a big-impact film, which deserves a place in the winners’ circle.
Writer-director Ross's true-believer American salesmanship%u2014inspired by Frank Capra and honed in Dave and Pleasantville--suits this story of American entrepreneurship, optimism, and resilience. [Blu-ray]
Respectable when it should be thrilling, honorable when it should be rough and ready.
[It] may be too airbrushed for its own good, but in the end nothing can stop this story from putting a lump in your throat.
Seabiscuit is not a work of great art, but it tells its solid story with grace and dignity.
We root for Seabiscuit, of course, but more out of obligation than devotion -- after all, we paid to see him.
I found this film stultifyingly self-important and, despite the regularity with which it cuts to the chase, weirdly static.
For a film about an unfancied underdog, Seabiscuit is just far too pleased with itself.
So predictable that even this true story--the one so few people today know anything about -- seems like an accomplished fact before the opening credits are through.
It's a well-made film with some nice performances, but it lacks any sort of dramatic fire.
The foolproof recipe for an old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing slice of summer counterprogramming, and Gary Ross hasn't botched the ready-made job.
The film becomes a parable about the power of seeing potential and cultivating it, even in those who do not aim so high themselves.
The terrific horse racing sequences, exciting as they are, complement the base story of human dignity and perseverance.
It’s a good story well told, most of the actors are good, and the cinematography should win awards.
A quiet film, oftentimes silent for moments on end, in reflection of both tragedy and triumph.
Watching this movie, you get the feeling that the Depression existed so that Seabiscuit could be memorialized.
There's nothing for the audience to observe except the construction presented. Seabiscuit makes all its connections and observations for you.
Is ''Seabiscuit'' as good as Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book? Not quite.
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