Secretariat was one of the greatest athletes of all time. Disney‘s film based on his life, however, is only a pleasant nostalgic serving of peach cobbler covered in ice cream. It’s sentimental, sweet and makes you feel good but it never manages to bestow upon the viewer just how awe-inspiring Secretariat was. This is mainly because the film goes to great lengths to paint Secretariat as an underdog despite his now famous domination of the triple crown races. This would be similar to making a film about Michael Phelps‘ historic performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics and casting doubt that he would even win one medal much less eight.
The film lacks any sort of style except being reminiscent of previous Disney period sports films such as The Greatest Game Ever Played. The direction by Randall Wallace (We Were Soldiers) leaves a lot to be desired. The racing scenes never excite and the emotional scenes never seem to fully engage. The staging and framing of many scenes came off awkward and, in some cases, there were complete tonal shifts that created bizarre moments in the film. The cinematography was uneven with some scenes being shot beautifully and with others, especially the backwards POV shots during the races, being difficult to look at.
Diane Lane is wonderful as Penny Chenery, the housewife-turned-horse owner who never loses faith in the racehorse even when the screenplay tries to demand that she should. Lane is a fantastic actress who, for better or worse, is always lumped into the Oscar race anytime she has a leading performance in a major film but her role here is too light too garner any awards. In fact, the actress is only given one Oscar-baity scene in which she tearfully proclaims that she wants Secretariat to race but the scene is so awkwardly directed that she never achieves any true emotion. She fares better in the scenes where she is allowed to be good humored and feisty instead of being weighed down by unnecessary displays of Scarlet O’Hara-esque proclamations.
Of the supporting cast, venerable character actress Margo Martindale is uproarious as Elizabeth Hamm, the dependable family secretary that gave the legendary horse his name. She is what great Disney supporting roles are made of; she has biting one liner’s, hilarious facial reactions and peppers in some emotional authenticity throughout the film. Despite being almost miscast, John Malkovich, much like Bill Murray in Get Low, manages to meld his screen persona with an almost unfitting period piece character. Somehow Malkovich never seems to be out-of-place as the quirky horse trainer that brought Secretariat to greatness (although he never convinces as a French-Canadian). The rest of the supporting turns range from dignified cameos (James Cromwell) to thankless (Lane’s entire family) and, in some cases, flat out distracting (I’m looking at you Kevin Connolly).
Secretariat is the type of nostalgic sports movie that Disney is known for; warm, unchallenging and ultimately uplifting. It does an adequate job of telling a new generation who Secretariat was and how the woman that owned him never gave up hope. However, it is much more exciting to watch footage of the racehorse’s legendary performances on YouTube, where one can feel a genuine excitement and adoration for this historic athletic performance.
6.5 out of 10