The Secretariat is an amazing story, and no doubt is the type of story that Disney just loves to get their hands on. For those who aren’t aware, The Secretariat is a true story about a racehorse. Wait a second, scratch that. The Secretariat is a true story about a woman who fights the odds, stares adversity in the eyes, and lifts her race horse up to legendary status! There is no question about it that the Secretariat which is the horse’s name was one the best physical specimen’s of any horse to ever walk this planet. You might be wondering, well then how is this a movie about fighting the odds if you have the greatest horse ever!? Well, this story show cases the trials and tribulations that it took for the Secretariat to succeed with a female owner in a male dominant racing world. Don’t worry, it’s not a slow-moving sappy story/movie.
Mrs. Tweety aka Ms. Chinery was the real life owner of Secretariat and is played by Diane Lane in the movie. Once Secretariat gets of age, she sets out to race him and needs to get herself a manager and jockey. Enter John Malkovich, who plays Lucian the Frenchman who is definitely a hoot in this movie. Lucian is a few characters all rolled up into one. It’s also Lucian who recommends Ronnie Turriot who ends up becoming Secretariat’s jockey and thus ultimately thrown to super stardom.
After Mrs. Tweety’s father passes away she is forced with a hard decision to make, whether to sell Secretariat and pay off the taxes and be able to keep the family farm or keep moving forward with Secretariat’s racing career. Ultimately, for those who know of Secretariat’s illustrious racing career then you know the answer this one. They go through financial burdens in the wake of the event, but with a dream comes motivation and dedication. Secretariat whooped up in short races winning tons of trophies. The time had come to try to put him in longer races and see what he was made of.
There hadn’t been a triple crown winner in years, and many thought it was an impossible feat to ever accomplish again. To win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont all in one year is an incredible feat. In every good movie there is an advisory, and in The Secretariat we had two of those. Sham (another race horse) and his manager Pancho. Sham was an astounding race horse, and if it weren’t for Secretariat this movie would be named after him instead. Mrs. Tweety had to deal with Pancho at press interviews whilst Secretariat had to fight with Sham throughout the many races.
Without giving too much away you obviously know that in many feel good movies, they are made because good things happened. 😉 Thus, Secretariat broke records, and won over hearts, and in the midst of it all was Sham who also broke records. I say this because it’s good to know that Secretariat was really racing against the elite, and not just a bunch of run-of-the-mill horses. 30 years later, records are still in tact. This is an incredible movie, and a real fun one to watch without even liking anything about horse racing going into it. It’s made for all. (it’s Disney) And don’t forget to watch the extras! There is some very good stuff there that I will talk about in the supplements section!
The video quality was typical of Disney standards. I say Disney standards because they are like 99% always spot on and damn near perfect. However, in this one as it was going for the vibrant eye popping colors it did tend to add a bit of depth to it as well. There were some very light instances of film grain. When I say light instances, emphasis on light. I just happened to notice them on scenes where the colors are jumping out at you that I’d see a rub effect where some of the grain showed through. It really wasn’t a big deal, but it was there. Overall, the darker scenes (which weren’t very many) were awesomely done and blacks were very deep and black. Overall, nothing really bad here. Everyone who buys this should be pleased. Especially since this a little more geared as a family film in which case the kids won’t notice it.
Blu-ray Screen Shot Gallery:
The Audio was awesome on this one, obviously because of the horse racing. Coming at you with a 5.1 DTS HD Master audio track it really screams volume when the horses unleash out the gate. There’s more vocals compared to action in this movie, but a nice mix none the less. In regards to vocal clarity it’s obviously a front heavy track with your left and right fronts baring most of the load though the center channel still is in great use. The rears are utilized nicely during scenes involving the horse, (races, etc.) though I almost wish it was a 7.1 track just for that as when the horses come wrapping around the track it could be audio bliss in a 7.1 set up. Regardless, it’s a great audio track and superbly mixed. No real rating critical complaints here.
First and foremost let me start out by saying that this is a 2 disc edition. This isn’t necessarily uncommon of Disney but I just wanted to point out that there are extras/special features on the DVD that are not on the Blu-ray disc.
The DVD extras include a music video by AJ Michalka “It’s Who You Are” as well as 3 deleted scenes. The Blu-ray includes those listed below.
Choreographing The Races: This is a nice insight that allows you to see how the filmmakers used new technology to re create these infamous races that became legendary for Secretariat.
A Director’s Inspiration: A Conversation With The Real Penny Chenery – This is a must watch, one of the best parts in the extra’s and a great watch afterwards to get more info about the movie and what was truly real or elaborated for better parts in the movie. This has some really good info and it flows nicely, her house is decorated with trophies in the background heh.
Audio Commentary By Director Randall Wallace: A good watch as well if you want more insight to the process of the film as well as intriguing information. I’ve been a fan of Wallace since Braveheart, so I might be more inclined to like his vision more than most.
Secretariat Multi-Angle Simulation: This is a cool feature that allows you to see the 1973 Preakness run from different angles. Quick watch but rather enjoyable and entertaining. Check it out!
Four More Deleted Scenes – Good watch.
Overall, many may not think this is a slew of extras but the sheer quality of these I think is the perfect match for this disc and movie.
It’s pretty obvious that this movie would rate pretty high due to its tech specs alone. (ie. Great Audio and Video quality) However, when you put a magnificent true story in the hands of Randall Wallace (Director) and the producers of Miracle, Invincible, and The Rookie your just demanding magic. It’s a great film and has some informative and entertaining extra’s combined with the great AV, bonus DVD (For ease of use), equals one heck of a blu-ray disc outing. The Secretariat blu-ray comes highly recommended for lovers of films stated above or those of the feel-good genre. A great family experience as well.
Great movie and story.