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Hidalgo (Full Frame Edition) Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 29 Reviews)
Don't expect too much, but this movie is still worth seeing.
A synopsis -- It is the year 1890. American cowboy Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) and his paint Mustang stallion Hidalgo are legendary long-distance racers. Rumor has it they've never lost a race. When Shiekh Riyadh (Omar Sharif) hears of the famous pair's reputation, he is insulted, sure that his purebred Arabian stallion Al-Hattan is a better horse. He invites Hopkins and Hidalgo to participate in a 3,000 mile race across the Arabian deserts, known as the Ocean of Fire. Reluctant at first, Hopkins ultimately decides to give it a go. He ends up getting a lot more than he bargained for, facing vicious sandstorms, extreme heat, would-be murderers, kidnappers, and various other foes in a race for his life.
My thoughts -- I wanted this to be a great movie. I really did. I knew there was much speculation on whether or not Hopkins's memoirs had been at least partly fabricated, but I was hoping this would be a good story in itself, regardless. And it IS exciting. It's not a bad movie, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. As an avid horseback rider myself, I saw far too many discrepancies and impossibilities. First and foremost, Hopkins should have pulled out as soon as he noticed the quarter crack in Hidalgo's front hoof. Running a horse with a quarter crack is entirely irresponsible, and could leave the horse very, very lame. And later, when Hidalgo suffers a large gash in his shoulder that would have injured muscle tissue, he shows absolutely no signs of lameness. By the end of the race, Hopkins has this horse with a quarter crack and a severe gash in his shoulder running flat out. AND the horse is bleeding from his nose! Not only would a horse with these injuries not be fully sound, but again, it would be completely irresponsible to risk futher injury by continuing to work such an injured horse that hard.
Then, at the end of the movie, Hopkins releases Hidalgo back into the wild... WITH shoes on! A horse's hooves grow continually, just like human fingernails and toenails. Horses that wear shoes need to have the shoes removed periodically, their hooves trimmed, and then have new shoes put on, otherwise the hooves will overgrow and the horse will go lame, throw a shoe, or both. Mustangs, which travel great distances, wear their hooves down naturally. But a loose shod horse will eventually throw his shoes one by one. Throwing one shoe would leave the horse unbalanced, and lame. Worse than that, there is the possibility of losing a chunk of hoof along with the shoe, leaving the horse REALLY lame. And a lame mustang is a dead mustang. I can only hope no one takes horsemanship examples from this movie. And I was also disappointed to hear Hopkins claim he once had a three-legged horse that was his best roping horse. This JUST isn't possible.
But I'll cease with my nit-picking and move on to other aspects of the movie. As I said, it is a fun and exciting movie. Only horse people would be likely to pick up on all the impossibilities in the plot. The storyline could have been a little tighter, but it's not too bad. There is plenty of action, lots of humor, and even a little romance. There is quite a bit of violence, but it isn't very bloody, so this would be a great family movie.
The acting was fairly good, for the most part. I think Omar Sharif turned in the best performance. He really captures depth and dimension in his character. Viggo Mortensen also did quite well, making a nice follow-up to his performance in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The fact that he is a horseman in real life comes through in the film, and it's pleasing to see that he really can ride well. (As an interesting aside, Mortensen was so impressed with T.J., the paint horse that played Hidalgo, that he ended up buying him after the filming was complete.) The fast race scenes are truly impressive. Hidalgo himself is a gorgeous horse, and very charismatic as an animal actor. He has a very expressive face, and steals many a scene.
So, while I want to emphasize the fact that this movie has many inaccuracies ("Seabiscuit" remains the better horse movie in this respect), and I hope people won't take it too seriously, I would still recommend it. I doubt most people will even notice the discrepancies. It's fast-paced, exciting, and fun. It should also be good for viewers both young and old, as it's low on blood and the romance is VERY tame - not even a kiss. My mother, who dislikes violent or gory movies, enjoyed "Hidalgo" very much. There are a few joking references to castration, but they're subtle enough that they should go right over the heads of younger viewers. "Hidalgo" is worth seeing in theaters - the action sequences are great on the big screen - and it would make a good family night at the movies.
one tough horse
I enjoyed HIDALGO, although everything that happens is entirely predictable. The movie is inspired by Frank Hopkins(Viggo Mortensen), a famous rider in long distance horse races after the Civil War. Hopkins and his faithful mustang Hidalgo journey to the Middle East to compete in the "Ocean of Fire", a 3000 mile race across the desert. There's violence, action, and intrigue along the way, but the filmmakers take more time over the issue of the treatment of Islamic women, giving the film a rather modern liberal agenda.
The shiekh (Omar Sharif) who sponsors the race has a outspoken daughter (Zuleikha Robinson) who becomes a pawn in some palace intrigue. Hopkins is called upon to rescue her, and of course sparks fly between them . There's an exciting scene when Hopkins helps the princess break out of imprisonment, but much of this storyline felt improbable to me. (Of course, so did most of the movie)
With Said Taghmaoui as Hopkins' main competitior and Malcolm McDowell, briefly, who rolls the word "Mustang" around on his tongue like a marble .
An overall fun and exciting popcorn flick
My main reason for seeing 'Hidalgo' was the KING (aka Viggo Mortensen aka Aragorn). Though Viggo and the film itself are by no means on par with the wonder of LOTR, this is a fun popcorn flick that has little bit of something for everyone. You've got adventure, romance, tearjerker moments, humor, horses, and Viggo ;-) On the down side, 'Hidalgo' also suffers from occasional bouts of cheesy dialogue, outlandish plot turns, melodrama, and boredom. The key word here is occasional. The entire film is not plagued with these problems, only certain sequences.
Based on the life of renowned cowboy Frank T. Hopkins and his Mustang Hidalgo, as I'm sure you already know, the film tells the story of their legendary, 3,000 mile battle through the desert in a 1,000 year-old race known as 'The Ocean of Fire'. Frank and Hidalgo have never lost a race and are said to be unbeatable. However, the cutthroat competition and the fury of mother-nature will incessantly test the pair and threaten to break their winning streak.
The intense, exciting, and visually impressive action sequences call to mind such films as 'The Mummy' (sandstorms!), 'Seabiscuit' (horseracing! duh) and 'Indiana Jones' (chasing people through the desert!). This isn't necessarily a bad thing as many reviewers have said it to be. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded of old favorites.
My favorite part of this film was the deep connection displayed between Frank and Hidalgo. A horsewoman myself, I especially appreciated their affectionate banter and, of course, the "Nobody hurts mah horse" line. Hidalgo's adorable behavior; the nuzzling, tail flicking, eyeballing, whinnying and all the rest of his horsy behavior was all incredibly charming. Hidalgo is the new Black Beauty!
Alas, the negatives of 'Hidalgo' cannot be ignored. Director Joe Johnston is responsible for taking a potentially great film and letting it slip into occasional spells of dullness, predictability, and sidetracking. For example, what exactly was the point of that 30 minute mini-movie of the abduction and rescue of the princess? What did this have to do with anything?! The princess herself was a pretty useless character who did absolutely nothing to further the plot or add to the enjoyment of the film. I would have been perfectly content if her character had been eliminated entirely and Johnston focused on the far more interesting story of Frank and Hidalgo.
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