Writer-director John Gatins is no Carroll Ballard – the animal-movie specialist behind The Black Stallion – but he still manages to grace this tale of a girl (Dakota Fanning) who cares for an injured horse with a few quietly effective moments. There also are some nice scenes between Fanning and Kurt Russell as her workaholic, horse-trainer father. When he begins to reset his priorities, this becomes a movie about a little girl and her horse that fathers will know best.
