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Review #285 of 365
Film: Flicka (2006) [PG] 94 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.25
Where Viewed: Colorado Cinemas Cherry Creek 8, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 23 October 2006
Time: 7:20 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Michael Mayer (A Home at the End of the World)
Screenplay by: Mark Rosenthal (Mona Lisa Smile) and Lawrence Konner (Planet of the Apes) based on the novel My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Tim McGraw (Friday Night Lights) • Maria Bello (World Trade Center) • Alison Lohman (Big Fish) • Ryan Kwanten ("Summerland") • Daniel Pino (The Lost City) • Dallas Robert (The Notorious Bettie Page)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
— or — order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
A timeless work of fiction for young adults, Mary O'Hara's novel, My Friend Flicka comes to the big screen again, this time re-imagined with a gender swap of Katy for Ken McLaughlin as the main character. The result makes for a compelling story in the development of the relationships between fathers and daughters as well as sons. Some other elements have been updated as well. Country western superstar Tim McGraw plays the patriarch of the family, Rob McLaughlin, and owner of an ailing Wyoming horse ranch. His son, Howard (Ryan Kwanten), wife, Nell (Maria Bello), and two ranch hands, Gus (Dallas Roberts) and Jack (Daniel Pino) keep the ranch alive and do without comforts let alone excesses so that Katy (Alison Lohman) can attend a private boarding school and get the education they believe will set her up for college. As twists of fate would have it, Katy lacks interest in school and spitting back what her teachers want her to write, while older brother, Howard, has been resisting a scholarship to attend Boston University because he feels his parents, especially his father, want him to take over the ranch his sister, instead, loves. The film begins with Katy's prodigal return from school and her family's delight to have her home. This is shortly before they learn the next day she has failed her history final examination and will be expected to repeat the year. The receipt of a fax from the head of school begins a long period of bad blood between Rob and Katy that is compounded when she tries to lasso a renegade black mustang and nearly loses her life several times. The horse, ultimately brought in by her father, becomes her obsession, with her mother begging her father to let her have it and her father decidedly convinced that she lacks the responsibility necessary to break such a horse whom Katy has named, of course, Flicka—the Swedish word for little girl. Eventually, Flicka becomes so dangerous, she is sold against Katy's will to a mustang racer who uses them in Rodeos. After numerous disagreements, Katy schemes with Howard a way to buy the horse back by pretending to be him and entering into the rodeo to ride the mustang and win the prize money.
"Clean language, good morals, and a lack of graphic anything…make this a very entertaining family film."
Unfortunately, for this version of Flicka, the over-active movie preview gives away every significant line of dialog and nearly every thrilling scene. So, if you plan to see this film, don't watch the trailer. A couple of these lines are among the most powerful father-daughter relationship lines ever spoken in a recent film. The development of the relationship between Rob and Katy is one from which most fathers could benefit especially if they have a head strong daughter—and hopefully, all women today share some of the characteristics of Katy as they will only help in the battle for equity and justice for women in this continuously male-dominated culture. The film provides insights into how to raise a daughter such that she has confidence and strength to fight for what she believes. Unfortunately, Rob will learn the hard way, that if you raise her properly, you need to be prepared to give her the responsibilities she richly needs and deserves just as a father would for a son. It's really not rocket science that if you withhold responsibilities from a young woman, you will leave her with likely two outcomes, first she will seize them in spite of you, or second she will emerge without the true confidence to succeed when given them. These dimensions of this film are more than updates for today's culture, they actually reach back into the core of the original novel which focused intently on the relationship between the parents as they try to raise their children. Goodness knows, kids do not come with instruction manuals, so any help parents and guardians of children today can get, the better.
The story as written for the film, has a chief weakness despite all of the great new elements, and that is the main rodeo scene turns out to be sort of a let down. The ensuing climax that follows is a bit predictable if not cliché leading to the main protagonist ending up in bed with a potentially fatal fever. Some of this, to a degreee, was needless drama for an already overly-dramatic story. There is one fun scene where Howard nearly kidnaps Katy and convinces her to go swimming in their water hole to relieve stress of worrying about their myriad plans and how to deal with their father. Other than that, the movie is extremely serious most of the time. Tim McGraw and Alison Lohman really seem to connect with their characters more so than Maria Bello and Ryan Kwanten—the latter of whom spends most of the film really looking like a fish out of water bearing more resemblance to an Australian life guard than a Wyoming cowboy. Sadly, the film, also, was not filmed in Wyoming, but rather in and around Los Angeles. Cool, I guess that Southern California is so beautiful, but it seems a shame when so many films are filmed in California, not to film this classic story in real Wyoming. It's difficult to imagine how it would or could cost less to film in So-cal. The music, some by McGraw is excellent. The pacing of the film is sometimes curiously slow with lots of long-lasting shots of Katy sleeping and occasionally repetitive as we see her go to Flicka's corral night after night after night three times just to try to put a bridle on her. There are some powerful moments, nonetheless, and the film, overall is a good one. It's the kind of film you go take the family to see after supper on a weekend afternoon and know that everyone will get something useful out of it. Clean language, good morals, and a lack of graphic anything—except perhaps Katy's friend from school's bikini is a bit skimpy—make this a very entertaining family film.
The story as written for the film, has a chief weakness despite all of the great new elements, and that is the main rodeo scene turns out to be sort of a let down. The ensuing climax that follows is a bit predictable if not cliché leading to the main protagonist ending up in bed with a potentially fatal fever. Some of this, to a degreee, was needless drama for an already overly-dramatic story. There is one fun scene where Howard nearly kidnaps Katy and convinces her to go swimming in their water hole to relieve stress of worrying about their myriad plans and how to deal with their father. Other than that, the movie is extremely serious most of the time. Tim McGraw and Alison Lohman really seem to connect with their characters more so than Maria Bello and Ryan Kwanten—the latter of whom spends most of the film really looking like a fish out of water bearing more resemblance to an Australian life guard than a Wyoming cowboy. Sadly, the film, also, was not filmed in Wyoming, but rather in and around Los Angeles. Cool, I guess that Southern California is so beautiful, but it seems a shame when so many films are filmed in California, not to film this classic story in real Wyoming. It's difficult to imagine how it would or could cost less to film in So-cal. The music, some by McGraw is excellent. The pacing of the film is sometimes curiously slow with lots of long-lasting shots of Katy sleeping and occasionally repetitive as we see her go to Flicka's corral night after night after night three times just to try to put a bridle on her. There are some powerful moments, nonetheless, and the film, overall is a good one. It's the kind of film you go take the family to see after supper on a weekend afternoon and know that everyone will get something useful out of it. Clean language, good morals, and a lack of graphic anything—except perhaps Katy's friend from school's bikini is a bit skimpy—make this a very entertaining family film.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Flicka (2006)
Cast Members
Tim McGraw
• Maria Bello• Alison LohmanRyan Kwanten • Daniel Pino
• Dallas RobertDirector
Michael Mayer
Co-Writers
Mark Rosenthal
• Lawrence Konner| The Book | CD Soundtrack | DVD |
| VHS | Related DVD Set | Related Book |
Flicka (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
A timeless work of fiction for young adults, Mary O'Hara's novel, My Friend Flicka comes to the big screen again, this time re-imagined with a gender swap of Katy for Ken McLaughlin. The result makes for a compelling story in the development of the relationships between fathers and daughters as well as sons. Country singer Tim McGraw plays the patriarch, Rob McLaughlin, and owner of an ailing Wyoming ranch. His son, Howard (Ryan Kwanten) and wife, Nell (Maria Bello), keep the ranch alive so that daughter, Katy (Alison Lohman), can attend boarding school. Unfortunately, the over-active movie preview gives away every significant line of dialog and nearly every thrilling scene as Katy encounters a renegade mustang that later becomes her sole obsession. Some aspects of the plot are slow, predictable, and cliché or needlessly dramatic or repetitive. Nonetheless, it's a good weekend afternoon film for the whole family to enjoy.
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