I figured this would be a typical horse racing movie, and while there were some similarities to other films of this genre, it succeeds in providing quality entertainment that I did not expect. I think the Welsh , small town, part of the movie and how people banded together was a big difference. Excellent acting, very good horse racing scenes and like the other reviews in this forum have said , I left the theater glad I saw this movie. I recommend it to all .
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l-piotrowski23 May 2021
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sweidman-2801630 May 2021"We lost our jobs, our community, even our pride. And then Dream came along and reminded us what life is like when you are home."
Dream Horse tells the inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town Welsh bartender Jan Vokes. With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbors to chip in their meager earnings to help raise Dream in the hopes he can compete with the racing elites. The group's investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks with grit and determination, showing the heart of a true champion. This is what we call a crowd-pleaser. Everything about it is there to make you feel the triumphs and defeats everyone goes through on the path to victory. For that reason, the story goes where you think it would. It hits all those beats in both drama, comedy, suspense, and scenes trying to get you to cry with the characters. That's not necessarily a bad thing because it's 100% expected going in. It does take away from the movie, though, and it might be its biggest weakness. Still, the story is very enjoyable. Which makes sense for its extremely high rating of 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Some of the writing isn't as good as it could be, falling into cliches. But there are some scenes that work well with the characters. If you're gonna watch the movie for anything, it's Toni Collette. Her portrayal of Jan is fun and just the right central character needed. I don't know. There's not much more to be said. It's predictable and cheesy, but that's all part of the experience. I like Dream Horse and it's a quality movie to watch if you want to watch something with heart. -
atractiveeyes14 June 2021It has nothing original or special to deliver but it's still a decent enjoyable feel good movie with a delightful true story about horse racing. The plot is well written, it also develops smoothly and beautifully. Cinematography is amazing with many stunning shots. The whole atmosphere of the movie is beautiful and cosy. Toni Colette's performance is superb.
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ferguson-620 May 2021Greetings again from the darkness. Feel-good, underdog sports stories are a dependable addition to the entertainment value many seek from movies. Director Euros Lyn (shout out for the first 3 episodes of "Happy Valley") and writer Neil McKay take us to South Wales for the unlikely true story of Dream Alliance, a racehorse whose saddle carried the hopes of a downtrodden small town. Only rather than focus on the horse, this is the story of the townspeople who desperately needed something to believe in.
Toni Collette (THE SIXTH SENSE, 1999) stars as Jan Vokes, a South Wales villager working two jobs. She also cares for her arthritic husband and her elderly parents, while wondering why her life is so mundane and joyless. Her affinity for animals is apparent by the dog in her bed (not her husband) and the rehabilitating goose in the kitchen. She also has a history of prize-winning with whippets and pigeons. One evening while working at the local pub, she overhears blustering bravado from a customer named Howard Davies (Damian Lewis, "Billions") who regales his drinking buddies with tales of his time in a syndicate for a racing thoroughbred. After a bit of research, Jan decides she's going to purchase a mare in order to breed and raise her own race horse.
The fun begins when Jan, with the help of Howard, puts together a syndicate of local town folks in order to bankroll her idea. It's kind of a rag-tag group, including the town drunk (Karl Johnson). But their passion clearly brings hope where it's been lacking for a while. Howard, an accountant by trade, has to initially keep the whole thing secret from his wife (Joanna Page), who has no tolerance after his last syndicate almost cost them everything.
Jan's husband Brian (Owen Teale, "Game of Thrones"), aka Daisy, jumps in to help, though this is one segment that detours from what we saw in the 2015 documentary, DARK HORSE (an audience winner at Sundance). It's likely Brian's work was more important than what this dramatized version leads us to believe. Here, the focus is on Jan, and of course, the always reliable Ms. Collette, is strong in the role. However, when Dream Alliance disappears for long stretches of the movie (while off with trainer Philip Hobbs played by Nicholas Farrell), we forget that it's the story of a horse. Beyond that, we rarely see Jan with Dream Alliance, yet we are supposed to buy a "horse whisperer" connection between the two. How and when did that happen?
The racing scenes are very well done and provide a jolt of energy to the film. The steeplechase jumps are especially impressive and stress-inducing. Cinematographer Erik Wilson provides a touch of realism both at the track and in the small town. This helps immensely since the story is mostly fluff with minimal conflict between the elite of horse racing and the blue collar folks of a mining town. The film ends with a group song of "Delilah" (by Welshman Tom Jones) that includes the real Jan and Brian, as well as others who were involved with Dream Alliance. It's a true example of "Hwyl" no matter how you say it or how you define it.
Releasing in theatres on May 21, 2021 and On Demand June 11, 2021. -
AveenashKulkarni3 May 2020Saw the original. Delightful story! Delightful people! I walked around chuckling the rest of the day!
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In substance this movie isn't much different from any number of movies over the years depicting horse racing success against heavy odds. What makes this one unique is how the horse came about.
Set and filmed in Wales it is a true story from almost 20 years earlier. A middle age woman has a boring life, she works at the local supermarket, she also works at the local pub, and goes home to prepare meals for her lackluster husband. She really has nothing to get excited about, to look forward to the next day.
That changes when a new guy shows up at the pub and she learns he had been involved in horse racing but not with a very good outcome. Still she gets very interested, studies up on the subject, figures out all the costs, and devises a plan. She will form a syndicate with interested townspeople, she will buy an appropriate breeding mare, she will hire a proven stud to produce a racing horse.
Let's pause for a minute, genetics being what they are, any offspring are like rolling dice, as Forrest Gump might have said "You never know what you will get." So the chances that any random horse being a champion racer is a big gamble, it could be great, it could be mediocre, or it could be a tragic failure. Even with the best of trainers.
There would be no worthwhile story here if the new horse had turned out to be a dud. But there is a story and this movie presents it entertainingly and authentically. Going to the internet and researching the actual story is worthwhile.
My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our local library. We enjoyed it and found turning on the English subtitles necessary to understand the strong Welsh dialog. -
An extraordinary story of ambition against all the odds - based on a true story - will Dream Alliance fulfil the town's dreams, or will it all end in tears?
Positives:- Toni Collette! Without her powerful acting presence at the heart of the piece, I think the movie would have died in a ditch. As for her Welsh accent I (as an Englishman) thought it was pretty good: on my 'Welshometer', using the scale of Richard Burton as a 10 to RDW's "Doctor Dolittle" as a 1, I'd give Ms Collette about an 8. The illustrious Mrs Movie Man (as a Welsh lady) was less impressed, but found her "tolerable" when mixed with the other Welsh-born actors!
- And what a wonderful supporting cast of well know names from all our yesterdays. Just so great to see the great Siân Phillips ("I, Claudius"), Lynda Baron ('Nurse Gladys' from "Open all Hours"), Peter Davison ("Doctor Who") and Nicholas Farrell ("Chariots of Fire") in the cast. It was also (as is traditional in these "true stories") for the actual people to appear alongside their acting counterparts in the end titles: Howard Davies in particular seemed to be chuffed to bits to be singing alongside Damien Lewis!
- Hats off to cinematographer Erik Wilson and Chris Bates (the "drone operator"), for some impressive shots. The camera angles from the turf-pumping racing scenes are very impressive.
Negatives:- How did it make me feel? Very little at all. Which is a problem. The movie is so utterly predictable that I saw every element of the story play out way before it did. Did this happen in real life? In which case, that's annoying that life was so unrealistically predictable in its ups and downs!
- Elements of the story also felt formulaic: from the token comedy cranky old bloke (Karl Johnson) to Jan's brooding father-with-a-grudge. This latter element seems unnecessarily bolted onto the plot: poorly worked through and pretty superfluous.
Summary Thoughts on "Dream Horse": This is a feature debut for welsh-born Euros Lyn, most familiar (as a peculiar name) for popping up in the end credits of TV shows such as "Doctor Who", "Torchwood" and "His Dark Materials". And, as a great supporter of UK films, I really wanted to like this one. But it just didn't do it for me. It's also unfortunate that some of the subject material makes it unsuitable for the 6-to-8 year old horse fanatics... this is no "International Velvet".
I've seen some social media comments from people who adore the movie. And, to be clear, it's NOT a bad movie. I just personally didn't connect with me. Just goes to show that cinema really is 'horses for courses' sometimes!
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on the web or Facebook... or my onemannsmovies channel on TikTok. Thanks). -
elinwiliam15 May 2020I absolutely loved it. Being Welsh, it's become a norm for us to cringe at bad attempts at a South Walian accent but I was pleasantly surprised this time around. A joyful story with a superb cast and backdrop. I will watch again.
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bryangary6522 August 2022Feel good movie, though characters failed to really move me
Though based on a true story most references in the film about the sport of horse racing were utterly wrong, which seemed a bit lazy. -
unrulypatient3 May 2021Very endearing story about hope and perseverance in the hearts of a small town crew bold enough to dream of bigger things. Edge of your seat racing scenes with laughter, joy, and tears. This was a delightful feel good flick and it is well worth watching.
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Movi3DO23 June 2021A horse is as alive as its four legs.
A true story about a woman who bred a racehorse with little experience and got her neighborhood to work together to get the horse to race.
It's a familiar underdog story where a newcomer overcame challenges and won the big prize. Jan, played by Toni Collette, and her husband had a calm and boring life. However, when Jan got the idea of getting a horse, her life and others became more exciting.
Toni Collette was again great in her role as Jan. The relationship between her character and the horse was sweet and endearing. Even though the race brought excitement to the characters, for Jan she wanted the best for the horse.
The best part of the movie was probably the races. They were very well-handled with great camera angles. I felt as much excitement and anxiety as the Jan and the syndicate members did. When the races ended, I was relieved and happy for the horse as well as the group.
My problem here was that the characters were mostly straightforward. They were pretty typical of the characters in this type of movie. Also, the stakes were not high enough for me to care for the characters. I didn't feel like our main characters had to go through much troubles to get the racehorse. Because of this, the emotion wasn't strong for me.
Overall, a sweet story but a familiar one that I won't remember for long. 7/10. -
sahalford-187094 May 2020Lovely true story, happy and sad. Wonderful cast and good racing scenes.
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I had seen the trailer and thought I knew exactly how this film would play out, and it kind of did, but I was pleasantly surprised that the film was much better than I thought it would be.
The cast were great and the plot and some big ups and downs. There are some really good laughs but also a few tears along the way.
If like most of us you have had a tough time over the last year this is just the film you need for a good laugh, a good cry but also a bit of a lift . -
ryanclements-5088315 June 2021A pretty standard feel-good piece that was pretty hard to connect with become it was so predictable and full of old tropes.
If you piece together any "village unites against {X}" movie you've ever seen (Pride, Calendar Girls, The Full Monty) with any horse movie you've ever seen (sea biscuit, secretariat, black pride, etc), you get the idea.
Expect the same old working-class/upper-class stereotypes, the same horse injuries and recoveries, the same small-village characters.
On the plus side, the actors I thought did a great job, particularly Toni Collette and Damien Lewis in the lead pulling off, to my (untrained) ears, very decent Welsh accents (there is a question why they couldn't find Welsh leads, but anyway) -
Gordon-1112 June 2021I enjoyed this film a lot, because it gives people hope exciting these uncertain times. It tells us that we can keep dreaming, and our dreams can come true!
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While certainly not reinventing the wheel in any matter dream horse is an unqiue film that manages to paralell laughter and tears and certainly earns it (as opposed to forcing it down your throat) I must say ALL the actors did a darn good job but obviously Toni Collette steals the show It's a feel good flick and something we need these days Does every movie has to be citizen Kane worthy?
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fonjasong15 June 2021Delightful comedy set in the Welsh valleys. Accents were better then expected and an all round good film. Highly recommend for adults as I'm sure the younger generation will find it boring.
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ilovefoodcoma21 May 2021Based on true story. Very inspiring to see her searching for hope & determination to reach the goal. It is nice to see the horse brought the people in that little town together.
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teachingtrove24 May 2021Everything about this movie says what we need: hope, charity, and love including love for horses. It's a win, win movie.
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martinblackwell13 February 2022A feel good movie, captures very well the love that breeders, owners & trainers have for their equine charges. Well acted, surprising & welcome appearance from Lewis in such a presumably low budget movie, events a bit predictable at times but it doesn't stop one having a really fun time.
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tfminfl25 May 2021519. Dream Horse. So, I'll start by saying Toni Collette is an awesome actress! Horror, Drama, Comedy, Science Fiction she does it all, and always becomes whatever character she plays, and this one is no different! In this one she plays Jan, she lies awake all night listening to her husband snore, gets up at the crack of dawn to go to her job at the grocery store, stops by to take care of her aging parents, sees her husband Brian for a few minutes then head down to the local pub to work a shift there too! Yikes. One night she overhears Howard, a guy who is also suffering from the day in, day out blues, talking about horse racing, raising, and owning horses, and she's like that sounds interesting and I'm bored as hell with the day in, day out. Back at home she stares at her trophies, for various things, but mainly raising animals. And just like that she gets the idea to raise and race a thoroughbred horse. Sure, she's broke like everyone else in town. But what if she convinces everyone in town to chip in? She does quite a bit of research, enlists Howard's help, and does exactly what she sets out to do! Filled with great performances and a story that touches you in the feels, it's worth the watch! Also, it's based on a true story, which made it just that much more inspiring. Filmbufftim on FB.
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A_Different_Drummer13 June 2021We all understand that this era has not been kind to filmgoers. But that does not mean clapping hands for films that do not deserve it. For this genre, 2003's SEABISCUIT is the daisy -- the best in class. (And listed in my list of most re-watchable films of all time). Top stars are wasted here a 2-hr script that mostly runs in circles.
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tocanepauli13 June 2021Loved it. Yes it's predictable, but it's just what is needed in these rather sad times! Toni Collette was her usual excellent character and the supporting cast were all great!
The only thing that bothered was the racing just didn't feel "real".
But still loved the movie - watch it, you won't be disappointed. -
GiraffeDoor15 May 2022One of those cuddly, cutesy, feel-good movies in which members of a small community band together to be a part of some kind of past time. It's certainly a genre.
Impeccable for what it is; they paint the picture of the quaint agricultural Welsh town in which so many live in quiet desperation, especially the white-collar money-advisor.
With gentle humor, this was made to please British (especially Cymric) crowds with Marxian undertones (but what doesn't these days?)
Of course conflict emerges in the form of the practical choice not being the sentimental choice and one cannot deny that these villagers got pretty lucky in many respects.
Great to watch with the parents indeed.
With only a little exaggeration, anyone who has ever played a Welsh person on Film or TV seems to be in it. They are the ones that really make it shine.
Oh and the Horsey bits are cute too. I like that kind of thing. -
As someone who's family has ran a rescue farm for race horses for years. Bravo. Great job at making people call in love with this sport. And to anyone that says the dumbas$ statement "their born to run". They are, in the wild, without a 90lb man strapped to their back, and not while being hit with a pvc pipe. But hey, we feel better while watching this garbage. The acting is good though. So I can give it 2 for that.