Movie Review by Neils Hesse
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Hayden Panettiere, M Emmet Walsh, Frankie Muniz
Director: Frederik Du Chau
Once upon a time on a dark, rainy night a little zebra gets left behind by a travelling circus, then along comes a farmer, Nolan Walsh (Bruce Greenwood) who takes the little zebra with him to his farm. The farmer’s daughter Channing (Hayden Panettiere) instantly falls in love with the little fellow and decides to call him Stripes! The animals at the farm welcome Stripes into their little family and the very next day Stripes notices a horse racetrack next to the farm and from that moment on he decides that he is going to be a racehorse!
There are two major problems though – he is a zebra not a horse nor is he a trained racer. After a while Stripes grows up to be a very fast zebra with dreams of racing in the big race. The only way he can do that is if he could somehow get farmer Walsh who saved him to train him and Channing to ride him. With help from his friends – Tucker the pony (Dustin Hoffman), Franny the granny goat (Whoopi Goldberg), Goose (Joe Pantoliano), Sandy the filly (Mandy Moore), Lightning (Snoop Dogg) a bloodhound and flies Buzz (Steve Harvey) and Scuzz (David Spade) – Stripes (Frankie Muniz) might just see his dream come true after all.
This is a fun packed movie that has a lot to offer. With good direction from Frederik Du Chau who drives the film along at a consistent pace, he allows both the animal and real life actors’ storylines to splendidly intertwine. The voiceovers are all very good with Joe Pantoliano as a goose with mafia connections and David Spade with Steve Harvey as two hilarious flies, who steal every scene that they are in. One particularly hilarious scene has Goose take on a motorcycle and if you have ever been on the warpath of an angry bird you will find this scene very, very funny.
Expertly delivered by a talented cast that bring the animated animals to life, this is a fantastic, fun filled movie that will thoroughly entertain all the family.
