70
The script doesn’t add anything new to the sports movie formula – you can see every major plot development coming from the stratosphere – but Lyn’s execution of those ideas powers the movie through its predictable plotting.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
This is a well-cast, artfully handled effort that exercises sufficient restraint to really earn its requisite laughter and tears.
58
The A.V. Club by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
The film avoids every potential area of deeper interest: the economic conditions in Jan’s tiny ex-coal-mining community; the mid-to-late 2000s period setting; any nitty-gritty details about what it takes to train or race a steeplechase horse.
50
Austin Chronicle by Jenny Nulf
Inspiring true story? Perhaps not, but certainly a story that’s genuine enough to earn a few smiles.
75
Chicago Tribune by Katie Walsh
There’s enough good humor and just a dash of vinegar to temper the tone from becoming too treacly or sentimental, though the triumphant moments are incredibly effective and moving.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin
Like horse racing, filmmaking is a high-risk gamblers' game, but the team behind Dream Horse, the resulting dramatization of the Vokes' story, have surely bred a winner with this endearing, determinedly crowd-pleasing adaptation.
75
Slant Magazine by Mark Jenkins
After watching this Welsh racehorse drama, even those of us who’d struggle to pronounce the word may find ourselves feeling a bit of hwyl.
88
Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper
We can see every plot point rounding the turn long before the finish line, but that’s OK, because we’re having a (dare I say it) jolly grand time every step of the way.
70
Director Euros Lyn overdoes the feel-good trappings, but it’s hard to deny the genuine sentiment that the movie stirs up.
63
Dream Horse is a very nice movie, about very nice people, but nice is rarely enough, and thank goodness Toni Collette knows that.