Parents' Guide to

Seabiscuit

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

An inspiring story for teens and up.

Movie PG-13 2003 140 minutes
Seabiscuit Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 10+

Based on 4 parent reviews

age 8+
1 person found this helpful.
age 14+

lots of unnecessary bad language

i made the mistake of watching this with my ten year old. it has a ton of bad language which is just out of place and unnecessary, lots of drinking and partially clad women, implied sex and very graphic fight scenes.. all to tell a story about a horse. we had to turn it off half way.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4):
Kids say (6):

This horse lovers' movie is far from perfect, but it offers good, solid, heartwarming entertainment. There is a reason that good movies about sports, almost always about an underdog who overcomes obstacles to succeed, appeal to us in such a visceral fashion. Americans fiercely love athletic heroes because we want to believe that the difference really is in something beyond the physical, that it exists in a big heart and scrappy soul. Seabiscuit brings every evocative notion of the underdog out of the stable in turn but manages to make a movie with familiar themes seem as handsome as a thoroughbred, albeit one that has trouble in the homestretch.

Director Gary Ross does a yeoman's job of trying to capture varied themes in one film. If anything, the themes are kept on such tight reins and are demonstrated to the audience so often that some will find their repetition heavy-handed. Some audiences might find the parts of the movie slow going and the solemn, documentary-styled narration of PBS's own David McCullough a bit on the heavy side. Finally, it is a minor quibble but Maguire sits too heavy in the saddle to be mistaken for a real jockey. Seabiscuit has all the tension, movement and excitement audiences expect from summer flicks, but it has the added bonus of strong acting, which in the summer is often replaced by computer animation or exploding cars.

Movie Details

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