Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (2005)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

John Gatins

Writer (WGA):

John Gatins (written by)

Release Date:

21 October 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Sport

Plot:

Cale Crane catalyzes the rescue and rehabilitation of Sonador, a race horse with a broken leg.

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Kentucky | Horse Racing | School | Father Daughter Relationship

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Kurt Russell	...	Ben Crane
Dakota Fanning	...	Cale Crane
Kris Kristofferson	...	Pop Crane
Elisabeth Shue	...	Lily
David Morse	...	Palmer
Freddy Rodríguez	...	Manolin
Luis Guzmán	...	Balon
Oded Fehr	...	Prince Sadir
Ken Howard	...	Bill Ford
Holmes Osborne	...	Doc Fleming
Antonio Albadran	...	Prince Tariq
John Moyer	...	Security Officer
Kayren Butler	...	Teacher
Tommy Barnes	...	Short Steward
Frank Hoyt Taylor	...	Chairman

Also Known As:

Dreamer (Australia) (TV title)
Untitled Kurt Russell/Dakota Fanning Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for brief mild language.

Runtime:

106 min | Canada:98 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:PG | Canada:G (all jurisdictions) | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/6 | Netherlands:MG6 | USA:PG (certificate #41758) | Malaysia:U | Germany:o.Al. | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | South Korea:All | Finland:K-7

Filming Locations:

Frankfort, Kentucky, USA

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

In the film, a real stallion named Giant's Causeway is mentioned. As well as being Europe's top racehorses and one of the best stallions in America, his dam (mother) was Mariah's Storm, the horse on which this movie is based.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Near the beginning of the movie when the vet has finished his examination, Ben is shown holding an x-ray which the vet says is the one from the track and he says it confirms his x-rays of a spiral fracture of the cannon bone. Also Ben tells Cale that it is 'non-displaced', however this x-ray clearly shows a displaced fracture of the radius bone from the knee up about five inches long (all x-rays are life size). The cannon bone (also called the metacarpus) is below the knee joint. The x-ray is also clearly marked with an 'L' meaning 'Left', but all scenes of the horse with the cast show it on the right front leg.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Cale Crane: There used to be horses in that barn. At least, that's what my Grandfather says. We're probably the only horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky, that doesn't have one horse. Not one.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hamlet 2 (2008)

Soundtrack:

Dreamer

Superb Story-telling

I was lucky enough to be able to preview this film on October 6, in Greenville, SC with my wife. While I had seen the previews several months ago for this film and thought it looked pretty good, I went in thinking it would be just another "chick flick". I was wrong. The story-telling was superb and very rarely dragged along, holding the attention well (I never looked at my watch). The acting was very good from all involved and Dakota is cute as ever. The drama was riveting without being over done or heavy-handed. All in all this film is a winner (no puns intended) and great for people of all ages (and genders).