Hidalgo 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Too hokey and predictable. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Every time someone opens his or her mouth, out comes something asinine. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Whether it's true or not has little to do with whether it works as a movie, and overall it does, thanks to Mortensen's slightly hesitant charm ... and some dazzling visual work from director of photography Shelley Johnson. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Far too tolerant of cliches and too seduced by its own special effects and battle scenes. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... filled with cliches. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Certainly has its problems, but they're outweighed by the simple pleasures of a picture that takes its cue equally from old-fashioned adventures like Gunga Din and newfangled ones like The Mummy. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Like most movies about men and horses, Hidalgo spares no expense in matters of corniness. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Hokey though it is, with a horse-hugger ending thrown in to boot, Hidalgo has a sweet-natured appeal that welcomes sentiment without overdoing it. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: As sheer popcorn-munching fun, it's an often-rousing action-adventure that confirms Mortensen as a star. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Popcorn for us and oats for the horses, delivered by the tall drink of water that is Mortensen. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Never quite settles into its paces. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: It takes a thoroughbred star like Mortensen to make the bond between man and horses believable, and to keep Hidalgo from straying too far into fields of corn. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Opulent, overlong and uneven. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Bogs down in its midsection with a needless kidnapping subplot that ultimately becomes quite tedious. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: There is a fun, scruffy little B movie buried under the expensive packaging, and it surfaces just enough to make Hidalgo a reasonably diverting popcorn event. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Like last year's Seabiscuit, the movie spends too much time harping on ancillary bustle, and not enough watching the title character put his hoofs to work. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: It's a bit of an oddball story, but surely there was a less plodding way to elaborate on it. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: An exciting, colorful and very appealing movie. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: This primitively plotted family action adventure is one of the few movies that seem to be making up their plots as they go along. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a flaccid affair, a movie that could stand to lose about 30 minutes right off the top. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A sporadically entertaining adventure movie that is hampered by poor pacing, a badly focused screenplay, and cheesy special effects. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Bold, exuberant and swashbuckling, it has the purity and simplicity of something Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn might have bounded through. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: It's a manque of a rousing adventure tale and not the real thing. You're constantly aware of the gulf between how the movie wants to excite you and the halfhearted execution. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's not as if we haven't seen movies like Hidalgo before -- the cowboy, the horse, the hat -- and yet there's something fresh about it all the same. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Mortensen does an exquisite job of revealing just enough of the bottled-up angst to make us aware of the internal turmoil his character battles. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: A thrilling race with cartoon contestants. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Limited by one-dimensional, even stereotypical characters and a predictable and drawn-out plot. Read more

Benjamin Strong, Village Voice: A hybrid of both traditional and revisionist contradictions. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: One rousing, if rote, adventure. Read more