Girl meets horse yet again in this entertainingly ridiculous update of Mary O'Hara's 1941 childrens novel, My Friend Flicka.
Flicka (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:75
Fresh:40
Rotten:35
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: The rebellious protagonist will rally girls and children, but adults may find Flicka saddled with thin characters, over-the-top dialogue, and a plot that wanders into the countryside and never comes back.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: In FLICKA, a contemporary motion picture adaptation of Mary O'Hara's beloved novel My Friend Flicka, 16-year-old Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) dreams of fulfilling her family legacy by working on... In FLICKA, a contemporary motion picture adaptation of Mary O'Hara's beloved novel My Friend Flicka, 16-year-old Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) dreams of fulfilling her family legacy by working on her father's ranch in modern-day Wyoming. But Katy's father (Tim McGraw) wants more for her, insisting that Katy go to college. Katy finds a wild mustang, which she names Flicka, and sets out to make her a riding horse. But Flicka and Katy are more alike than she could have imagined. Like Katy, Flicka has a disdain for authority and is not about to give up her freedom without a fight. The principal character in the book and in its two motion picture incarnations was an adolescent boy. But this new version tells the story through the eyes of headstrong Katy McLaughlin. Katy is enrolled in a private school on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming, but her heart is with her sprawling family ranch in the state's remote mountain region. Katy returns home to the ranch, and soon becomes enamored of a wild mustang filly she finds in the mountain woods. She names the long-legged, ebony horse Flicka, or "beautiful young girl," in Swedish. But Katy's rancher father, the equally-willful Rob, sees nothing but trouble coming from the untamed animal and discourages his daughter from keeping her. Nonetheless, conflicted by a need to harness her own wild ways yet stay true to a free spirit within, Katy sets out to break through to Flicka and transform her into a riding horse. Despite her father's disapproval, Katy goes on and forms an unbreakable bond with the wild horse. Her relationship with Flicka becomes a catalyst for change for the entire McLaughlin family, which is at a major crossroads: Katy's dad is considering selling the ailing ranch, brother Howard (RYAN KWANTEN) wants to leave Wyoming for college in Boston, and her mother Nell (MARIA BELLO) is fighting to keep her family from falling apart. Can Katy ultimately tame her beloved Flicka and prove everyone wrong about the wild-hearted mustang? Will Rob find a way to support his daughter yet still keep her safe through this momentous life passage? And can the McLaughlins hold onto the ranch that they've worked so hard to maintain throughout a sea of social and economic change? -- © 20th Century Fox [More]
Starring: Alison Lohman, Maria Bello, Dallas Roberts, Tim McGraw
Starring: Alison Lohman, Maria Bello, Dallas Roberts, Tim McGraw, Ryan Kwanten, Danny Pino, Jeffrey Nordling, Kaylee DeFer, Dey Young
Director: Michael Mayer
Director: Michael Mayer
Screenwriter: Laurence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
Composer: Aaron Zigman
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Flicka
Breathtaking scenery and the sweet story of a girl, her dad and a special horse make Flicka a worthwhile family flick.
It must have annoyed the people making Flicka when Dreamer came out last year. They're similar films, and Dreamer is better.
Sentimental but not cloying, Flicka is family-friendly entertainment that hits almost all the right notes, even though it is playing the same old song.
At its best, the movie sounds like a standard Hollywood product in an automatic heartfelt mode.
Not to beat, well, a dead horse, but, despite its lovely scenery, likable cast and pro-mustang message, this Flicka seems superfluous and manipulative.
Flicka is a great family flick, perfect for a dad-and-daughter date, a family film outing, and everyone who's read and loved the book.
...lessons are learned, love is spoken and nobody needs to be put down (including country-music star Tim McGraw).
A thoroughly uninspiring drama that ultimately buckles under Michael Mayer's weighty direction.
A new yet insistently old-fashioned spin on the kid-lit classic My Friend Flicka.
Part of the point is that untamability, of "spirit" at least, is to be celebrated. Katie and the movie both argue that such a quality is inherently American. And the movie argues pretty loud.
Makes Dreamer, the last mediocre girl-and-her-horse movie, seem almost brilliant by comparison.
To call this the best horse-and-kid picture since The Black Stallion a quarter century ago is true but misleading; it's not really either an animal or a kids' film but rather a young adult drama that rings emotionally true.
It's an old fashioned and reasonably satisfying family film that will work just as well if you wait for video.
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