'Secretariat' Review

[Jason_Henge]

**WARNING, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!**
**WARNING, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!**
**WARNING, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!**
**WARNING, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!**
**WARNING, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!**
**WARNING, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!**

The newest film from Disney is Secretariat, a story about a race horse in the early 1970s that won the Triple Crown against all odds. The movie starts off slow and a little boring in a home in Denver. The main character's, Penny, mother suddenly dies. She returns home in Virginia for the wake and gets back in touch with her roots. News of selling the farm comes up, but she just can't let that happen. There were two dames on the farm that was pregnant by the same sire, and she decided to stay until the "coin toss" happened, which names a winner who claims one of the dame's offspring.

The obvious choice for anyone was the younger dame, but Penny did some research and found out some qualities that would be inherited from the older dame. When the coin toss occured, Penny lost it, but got the horse she wanted. The movie skips to the birth of the colt and montages two years until the horse, currently named Big Red, is matured enough to race. Penny then had to find a trainer, after she fired the previous one. She found an odd man named Lucien, who 'dresses like Super Fly'.

The first race the now-named Secretariat ran, he came in fourth. Lucien blamed the jockey and fired him. Now Penny had to find a new rider. First impressions of the new rider, who limped into a diner in a leg and wrist cast and crutches, wasn't much to be impressed with, but Penny won him over. The rest of the movie focuses on races and problems with money. Penny even offers up breeding spots for Secretariat, which all fail. Against all odds and recovering from an injury, Secretariat made history as the greatest race horse of all time.

Overall, I was pleased with the movie. I didn't really expect much, since it was another "based on a true story" movie, but like with "Remember the Titans", Disney knows how to up that level and make a great movie.