Seabiscuit (2003)

All Critics (207) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (157) | Rotten (45) | DVD (22)

Respectable when it should be thrilling, honorable when it should be rough and ready.

July 31, 2008 Full Review

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

[It] may be too airbrushed for its own good, but in the end nothing can stop this story from putting a lump in your throat.

November 1, 2007 Full Review

David Ansen

Newsweek

Top Critic

I found this film stultifyingly self-important and, despite the regularity with which it cuts to the chase, weirdly static.

March 26, 2007 Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

For a film about an unfancied underdog, Seabiscuit is just far too pleased with itself.

June 24, 2006 Full Review

Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Top Critic

Watching this movie, you get the feeling that the Depression existed so that Seabiscuit could be memorialized.

August 7, 2004 Full Review

Peter Rainer

New York Magazine

Top Critic

In the structure of his screenplay Ross has taken a risk, and he has not quite brought it off.

August 27, 2003

Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

Top Critic

An inspiring story for teens and up.

December 28, 2010 Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

It's inspiring despite a sobering thesis: The future is intoxicating, but progress is a kind way of rendering someone's livelihood obsolete. Gary Ross probed the underdog principle's heart: Success outside the comfort zone is the sweetest of all.

September 23, 2010 Full Review

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

Writer-director Ross's true-believer American salesmanship%u2014inspired by Frank Capra and honed in Dave and Pleasantville--suits this story of American entrepreneurship, optimism, and resilience. [Blu-ray]

June 19, 2009 Full Review

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews

Seabiscuit is not a work of great art, but it tells its solid story with grace and dignity.

August 18, 2007 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

We root for Seabiscuit, of course, but more out of obligation than devotion -- after all, we paid to see him.

July 14, 2007 Full Review

Joe Lozito

Big Picture Big Sound

So predictable that even this true story--the one so few people today know anything about -- seems like an accomplished fact before the opening credits are through.

May 20, 2006 Full Review

Blake DePastino

Baltimore City Paper

It's a well-made film with some nice performances, but it lacks any sort of dramatic fire.

March 5, 2005 Full Review | Comment (1)

Ethan Alter

NYC Film Critic

The foolproof recipe for an old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing slice of summer counterprogramming, and Gary Ross hasn't botched the ready-made job.

January 3, 2005 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

The film becomes a parable about the power of seeing potential and cultivating it, even in those who do not aim so high themselves.

December 6, 2004

Jeffrey Overstreet

Looking Closer

The terrific horse racing sequences, exciting as they are, complement the base story of human dignity and perseverance.

October 14, 2004 Full Review

Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan

It's a good story well told, most of the actors are good, and the cinematography should win awards.

October 7, 2004 Full Review

Tony Medley

tonymedley.com

• 1. Red Pollard: Brick by brick, my citizens. Brick by brick.
  – Submitted by Fauzia A (5 months ago)
• 1. Red Pollard: And this, the most unkindest cut of all.
  – Submitted by Joel S (10 months ago)
• 1. George Woolf: Wanta know what I think?
  2. Charles Howard: Of course.
  3. George Woolf: I think it's better to break a man's leg than his heart.
  – Submitted by Stu P (21 months ago)
• 1. Charles Howard: You could be crippled for the rest of your life.
  2. Red Pollard: I *was* crippled for the rest of my life. I got better. He made me better.
  – Submitted by Stu P (21 months ago)
• 1. Tick Tock McGlaughlin: No more match races for this little horse because frankly they're all out of matches. Who's he gonna race? Pegasus? I pity these horses.
  – Submitted by Stu P (21 months ago)
• 1. Charles Howard: The horse is too small, the jockey too big, the trainer too old, and I'm too dumb to know the difference.
  – Submitted by Stu P (21 months ago)

There are no discussion threads for Seabiscuit yet.