The Horses of McBride (2012)

An Exercise In Nonsense

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is a true story about a father and his daughter who mobilize the residents of a small Canadian town near McBride B.C to rescue two starving horses trapped on a snow covered mountainside. First discovered by snowmobilers the story is soon picked up by the media and the entire country watches the community pull together, digging a mile long trench through 10 feet deep snow back onto a logging road to rescue the abandoned horses.This made for TV movie runs every Christmas where I live and I've seen it a couple times now. I think I originally watched it because Aidan Quinn was in it -not sure how or why he made this? but its pretty good all round. I like the fact that it was obviously filmed in real winter, its cold, it does not look fun for the actors with deep blowing snow, very bad, true BC weather not the fake sunshiny stuff filmed in the summer like most Xmas movies seem to be. The family dynamics portrayed here are good- assume also true- family on the verge of moving, no work at the mill, the vet out of his element in the severe cold. The horses have also been made to look rough, patchy hair, bad hooves. A good bit of Canadiana.

Matt Davidson (Aidan Quinn) and his son are looking for a couple of snowmobilers lost in the woods. On the way, they spot a couple of horses stranded on the snowy mountainside. Money is tight for the family and Matt is looking to sell the place especially for his wife (Kari Matchett). The daughter Nikki (MacKenzie Porter) is concerned about the horses and hates selling. She refuses to give up. Simon is an amateur filmmaker who likes her. He starts doing reports on the horses. The SPCA sends Dr. Kumar to examine the horses but he's more experienced with marine animals. He relents to give them 4 days while they arrange for an airlift. Animal lover Fiona comes to help the horses recover. The group of environmentalists don't really get along with the old style Davidsons after the lost of logging in the area. When the doctor claims that they're too weak to fly out, Nikki starts digging a path out of the mountain by hand.This is a compelling movie about the small guys against great odds. It is inspiration and heart warming. It's kind of like 'Big Miracle' where people got whales out of being iced up. It is based on a real story but like most of these movies, lots of stuff are changed. I don't have any problems with that as long as it's in the service for a better movie. The second half is a bit anti-climatic. The story really peaks when Nikki starts digging. The movie tries to amp up the last half with the wolf attack but it's a bit too fake.

We watched this movie thinking it was a docudrama and would provide information about the real story. I read the book written by the women who was the 'true' main character and the only factual thing in this movie are a couple of names and the fact that the two horses were stranded. The movie changed the characters and their involvement, left out several of the main players, altered the story time line, and then fictionalized about 90% of the movie. The result is a very bad telling of the event including a preposterous wolf attack. The actual story is fascinating and is not well served by this TV movie melodramatic script that is so flimsily based on the real events. Tragic, it could have been done so much better.

We just watched it tonight for a family dinner together and we loved it. There's so little on TV telling globally enjoyable Canadian stories to ourselves and the world, and based on a True Story to boot no less, The Horses of McBride is doubly fantastic for all that. Definitely 5 star annual Xmas time classic story, or for any time of the year. We say Excellent work telling that story to all the film people involved, and to the actual real people who did it, even more so. Don't want to give away any details here to spoil it for anybody, though reading the online descriptions probably says as much as that it is a very warm happy story/movie through-out, very inspiring for all ages, and left us feeling very good.