BY THOMAS WOOD

Around the turn of the 21st century, Disney started producing a new sort of movie. They decided to branch away from their animated roots and make some original live-action films. Eventually, this venture would go on to produce classic films like Teen Beach Movie and Lemonade Mouth. However, near the start, some of the movies ended up a bit rough. Horse Sense was one of these movies, originally airing in late 1999. Let’s see if it falls into a similar rugged standard as its peers.

Our movie stars a pair of cousins, the younger Tommy and older Michael. Tommy is a country boy who lives on a ranch in Montana with his mother and two family friends, while Michael comes from an extremely rich family in California. When Tommy visits Michael for a week, Michael utterly disappoints and even ignores his little cousin. Now, to make it up to him, Michael’s parents force him to visit Tommy on the ranch and offer his help for a whole month. As such, Michael has to learn the ins and outs of being an efficient farmhand and mostly turns out being a fish out of water. 

I thought this movie was honestly pretty solid. I personally didn’t love the plot, but I could recognize that it frankly wasn’t written for my demographic. I did think that it was a bit drawn out, which made for a bit of a boring experience near the ending. I thought it was kind of lame how the “ranch endangered” plotline kept bouncing back and forth, but the conclusion was honestly heartwarming. However, I was never really sold on the fact that anything was in danger considering the fact that Disney movies don’t often have bad endings. For what it was, the story was pretty alright. 

The acting, on the other hand, didn’t always seem like it was quite there. I was never really super attached to any of the characters but Tommy, and I wasn’t attached to him because of his acting prowess. The actors’ lines sometimes felt overly exciting in some parts and not dramatic enough in others, which made for a strange experience overall. But besides a few specific spots of contention, I thought the overall performance was alright. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to sneeze at either.

All in all, Horse Sense is a pretty middle of the road movie. It didn’t blow me away by any account, but it did give me something to do on a boring Saturday night, which I can appreciate. Even though the plot sometimes seemed to be taking itself way too seriously, that made it all the more easy for me and my friends to get a good laugh at some scenes. And in the end, that’s all that really matters.

Overall: 6/10