Hidalgo

… is a horse. He is way more intelligent than any real horse, also much tougher and stronger. Yet, if you don’t worry too much about that, it’s not a bad movie. But I am, frankly, surprised it got made. It is a supremely old-fashioned adventure movie: a cowboy and his mustang racing across the Arabian desert (the same Empty Quarter that almost killed Peter O’Toole; we even have Omar Sharif in the cast) against the finest Arabian bluebloods. No special effects to speak of, except a dust storm and a plague of locusts. Only one real over-the-top action sequence, with lots of ridin’ and shootin’ in some nameless Casbah with lots of ayrabs getting knifed and shot. Still, though this is not really a recommendation, I have to say I was happy to see it. Compare it to the ridiculously overblown crap that passes for action adventure these days, and you find it’s mostly honest, except of course the sprint for the finish line at the end. You probably need to be in the right mood to appreciate it.