Dreamer (2005)

Cale Crane catalyzes the rescue and rehabilitation of Sonador, a race horse with a broken leg.

Director:

John Gatins

Writer:

John Gatins

Stars:

Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Oded Fehr

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kurt Russell	...	Ben Crane
Dakota Fanning	...	Cale Crane
Kris Kristofferson	...	Pop Crane
Elisabeth Shue	...	Lily
David Morse	...	Palmer
Freddy Rodríguez	...	Manolin
Luis Guzmán	...	Balon
Oded Fehr	...	Prince Sadir
Ken Howard	...	Bill Ford
Holmes Osborne	...	Doc Fleming
Antonio Badrani	...	Prince Tariq (as Antonio Albadran)
John Moyer	...	Security Officer
Kayren Butler	...	Teacher
Tommy Barnes	...	Short Steward
Frank Hoyt Taylor	...	Chairman

Storyline

Ben Crane believes that a severely injured racehorse deserves another chance. He and his daughter Cale adopt the horse (in fact is a mare)and save it of being sacrificed by the owner. The arrival of the mare to Crane's farm, will be the perfect opportunity for both father and daughter to reconstruct their lost familiar bond. "Soñador" (Dreamer in English), the renamed mare, despite its broken leg, maybe could have another chance to return to the racecourse, with the help of Cale, Ben, and his father, Pop.

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Plot Keywords:

racehorse | kentucky | horse racing | based on true story | horse movie | 

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Genres:

Drama | Family | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Cale and Ben go to Ashford Stud to check out the studs, the stallions they are naming, such as Fusaichi Pegasus, Giant's Causeway, Johannesburg, and Grand Slam, are real horses, who actually stand at Ashford. However, the actual stallions were not used in filming. Stand-ins were placed in their stalls instead.

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Goofs

After acquiring the injured horse, Ben is going to take the horse back to his farm. When the truck is shown pulling up to the stable, there is obviously no trailer; however, in the next scenes, the red trailer is shown hooked up to the truck.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Cale Crane: There used to be horses in that barn. At least, that's what my Grandfather says. We're probably the only horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky, that doesn't have one horse. Not one.

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Connections

Referenced in Gettin' It (2006)

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Soundtracks

Dreamer
Written by Bethany Dillon and Ed Cash
Performed by Bethany Dillon
Bethany Dillon appears courtesy of Sparrow Records
By Arrangement with EMI Film & TV Music

User Reviews

a Truly Moving Picture

I saw this film on September 13th in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival that screens films for their Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life." Heartland gave that award to this film.

The setting is the beautiful horse country around Lexington, KY. A dysfunctional horse family falls on hard times. The family includes a grandfather (Kris Kristofferson), a son (Kurt Russell), his wife (Elisabeth Shue), and their daughter (Dakota Fanning). The son is a horse trainer and loses his job abruptly and takes with him a badly injured horse to his shrunken, empty, rundown horse farm.

Just as the horse, Sonador, which is Spanish for Dreamer, struggles to become healthy, the family also struggles to become a caring, loving unit again. The indomitable spirit of the daughter as she cares for the horse forces the family to confront their problems. And ultimately they do face their problems with courage, spirit and even heroism.

The acting in this movie by the family members was superb. But Dakota Fanning deserves a special mention. It seems once a generation there is an outstanding child actor that is believable. She is this generation's child actor.

The cinematography and music score are outstanding. The horse country comes alive and you begin to understand why "…the sport of kings…" becomes many people's profession.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past winners going back 70 years.

Details

Official Sites:

Dreamworks Official site [Russia]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 October 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Kurt Russell/Dakota Fanning Project

Filming Locations:

Folsom, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,178,233, 23 October 2005

Gross USA:

$32,751,093

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$38,741,732

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dreamworks Pictures, Hyde Park Entertainment, Tollin/Robbins Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 98 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1