Seabiscuit

Proving that truth is often greater than fiction, the handsome production of Seabiscuit offers a healthy alternative to Hollywood's staple diet of mayhem. With superior production values at his disposal, writer-director Gary Ross (Pleasantville) is a bit too reverent toward Laura Hillenbrand's captivating bestseller, unnecessarily using archival material--and David McCullough's familiar PBS-styled narration--to pay Ken Burns-like tribute to Hillenbrand's acclaimed history of Seabiscuit, the knobby-kneed thoroughbred who "came from behind" in the late 1930s to win the hearts of Depression-weary Americans. That caveat aside, Ross's adaptation retains much of the horse-and-human heroism that Hillenbrand so effectively conveyed; this is a classically styled "legend" movie like The Natural, which was also heightened by a lushly sentimental Randy Newman score. Led by Tobey Maguire as Seabiscuit's hard-luck jockey, the film's first-rate cast is uniformly excellent, including William H. Macy as a wacky trackside announcer who fills this earnest film with a much-needed spirit of fun. --Jeff Shannon

Theatrical International release dates:
Europe: Sep 6, 03

Movie Details

Cast: Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Tobey Maguire
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 141 minutes
DVD Aspect Ratios: 2.35:1 Widescreen

---

DVD Features:

Feature commentary with Director Gary Ross and Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh

Racing Through History

Bringing the Legend to Life

The Making of Seabiscuit

Anatomy of a movie moment

From Script to Screen

Jeff Bridge's On the Set Photographs

Production Notes

Cast & Filmmaker Biographies

International rating:

Europe: PG

DVD International release dates:
North America: Dec 16, 03