Racing Stripes

The Babe recipe--in which a young animal aims to succeed in a role usually filled by some other species, while surrounded by a bevy of farmyard friends that can converse among themselves--is recycled in this amiable family movie. Here the cute, ambitious hero is an orphaned zebra rather than a piglet, and instead of a sheepdog he wants to be a champion racehorse. Racing Stripes is a sweet and likable canter around a familiar track, sporting messages about accepting tolerance and doing one's best despite difficult odds, and generally avoiding the crudity so prevalent in supposed kid-friendly movies nowadays (a few jokes about poop and flatulence apart). The mixture of animal training, CGI effects, puppetry, and animatronics in the critter footage is expert, and the picture boasts an exceptionally strong cast, including such stalwarts as Bruce Greenwood and M. Emmet Walsh in human roles, and voice work from the likes of Frankie Muniz, Dustin Hoffman, Mandy Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, and Joe Pantoliano, the last as a scene-stealing penguin who thinks he's a mob hit man. Though Racing Stripes doesn't come close to beating Babe, it has enough heart and humor to place or show. Recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include audio commentary by director Frederik Du Chau, an “Animal Acting 101” featurette about animal trainers (10 min.), a “Barnyard Outtakes” reel (9 min.), the seven-minute virtual comic book “The Racing Stripes Prequel,” a “How to Make Animals Talk” featurette (6 min.), a four-minute featurette on “The Music of Racing Stripes” featuring Sting and Bryan Adams (4 min.), three minutes of additional scenes, an alternate ending (2 min.), a simple “Buzz and Scuzz's Flying Fiasco Challenge” game and trailers. Bottom line: a kid-friendly extras package for a family-friendly film.] (F. Swietek)