Film Reviews

Racing Stripes

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Bruce Greenwood
• Details: US/ 94 mins/ (12A)

Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle, Agent Cody Banks) lends his vocal talents to this derivative, fluffy but harmless racing comedy fantasy.

The Babe-like plot tells of a baby zebra (voiced by Muniz) who is abandoned by a circus, and taken in by a good hearted farmer named Nolan Walsh (Bruce Greenwood). Bringing the animal home to his family, his young daughter (Hayden Panettiere) falls in love with the beast, and treats it as well as any of her father's pedigree racehorses. Of course, since the young foal is at an impressionable age, he believes that he's actually a racehorse himself, and thinks he's got what it takes to win the Kentucky Open.
Only the very young or the very foolish won't foresee the trajectory of the narrative arc of Racing Stripes and the film doesn't miss a trick in recounting its tale of against the odds success. Even if there are no real surprises in store in the screenplay, there's reasonable enjoyment to be gained from the vocal performances, with likes of Dustin Hoffman and Joe Pantoliano riffing off each other. The kids will enjoy it, but that's about as far as it goes.

Review by Garreth Murphy