Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story

As a parent there is always a thought in your head of how far am I willing to go when it comes to encouraging my children to like the same things I like. There are some who think you should just let your kids decide for themselves what they like, but that's not for me. I am sure most people would agree that buying my son a baseball glove is okay while tying his right hand behind is back to force him to be left handed because it's easier to be a professional baseball player if your left handed is going a little to far.
With all that in mind we have Dreamer, a movie about a little girl and horse. It's one of my wife's films, but when it came time to watch she had only a passing interest because the reason we own it is for our daughter who is almost two years old and went to bed tonight in horse pajamas with a horse stuffed animal. At this point it would be very ironic if her favorite animal ends up being a cat.
About the movie, it's a harmless underdog story that is probably best watched on a Saturday afternoon when it's raining out and your sick of watching Real World marathons on MTV. I'm not a fan of Dakota Fanning but she is fine in this and I liked the performances of Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Shue and David Morse. The characters themselves are somewhat one dimensional but they aren't so dry that you don't like. The film also has a few cringe worthy moments as it dramatizes a real life story in such a way that would make the folks at Lifetime jealous.
I have to admit that I did get up at one point let the film continue running for virtually 20 minutes while I was in the kitchen talking with my wife and I am pretty sure I did not miss any key plot points. Still, what I did watch was enjoyable for what it was. The film knows exactly which strings to pull and when to pull them and while there were a few groan worthy moments the film is ultimately pleasant. I think my wife is right about one thing. It'll be fun to watch this with my daughter when she is a little older. That is assuming she likes horses more than cats.