Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story is a movie about the strained father/daughter relationship of Ben and Cale Crane.  The film just happens to be set on the one horse farm lacking a horse in an area where concern for the competitive world of racing assumes major importance. 

Cale (Dakota Fanning) is hurting inside. She cannot relate to Ben (Kurt Russell) in the way a young girl should with her father. Ben seems extremely distant and appears to ignore her  presence while she tries everything in her arsenal to get him to pay her any mind. Her latest trick seems to have worked. Having promised to take her to work with him, she calls his bluff and walks in front of his truck one morning by forcing him to slam the breaks hard to avoid hitting her. Scowling at  at him with arms crossed, she looks into the windshield. “All right get in,” Ben growls. 

Cale puts her father in an awkward situation when a horse named Sonador (Spanish for Dreamer) is dragged into the stables. This horse was a promising thoroughbred with a bright future ahead of it while still young. Unfortunately, it is inches away from being destroyed for having a broken leg. The horse is viewed as worthless by Ben's boss (David Morse), who wants it shot to death then and there.

For the sake of his young daughter, Ben does not harm the animal. But he is now jobless for his defiance of orders. His severance pay? The horse nobody wanted. As broken inside as the horse is outside, Cale forms an unbreakable bond with Sonador that she wishes existed with her father. 

There's a particularly poignant moment in the film when Ben reads Cale's story at a parent’s information night. The story tells about a king (used as a metaphor for her father) and a magic horse. This is quite a scene -- and the turning point of the movie. Never mind the lofty goal Cale has of winning the Breeders' Cup. Dreamer is a tale about about relationships, and one that makes a bold statement.

One problem with the movie relates to the “inspired by a true story” part of the title. This film is loosely based on the promising career of a horse named Mariah Storm who broke its leg back in 1990. And I couldn't help feeling that I was watching scenes from Seabiscuit redone and shot with new dialogue straight down to the battle between War Admiral and Seabiscuit.

Fanning steals the picture with her innate ability to see the world as an adult and as a child. She outperforms Russell, Elizabeth Shue (as her mother) and holds her own with Kris Kristofferson, who portrays her grandfather.

As a film about a girl's fascination with a horse, Deamer: Inspired by a True Story falls flat.  However, this movie is a winner in the area of human relationships.

(Released by DreamWorks and rated "PG" for mild language.)