Racing Stripes
Saturday 28 June
5:30pm - 7:30pm
ITV1 London
Heard the one about the orphan zebra who thinks he's a racehorse and enters the Kentucky Open? No? Then take one unsophisticated Babe clone, add a dollop of Seabiscuit sentiment, stir in a positive message and you have Racing Stripes. Director Frederik Du Chau's comedy uses the trick of live animals with CGI mouths to lip-synch the broad one-liners, but this yarn tries too hard to appeal to all members of the family. Some of the in-jokes will undoubtedly go over younger children's heads ("Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in", hams Joe Pantoliano's gangster pelican), while the toilet gags (courtesy of two horseflies) prove way too juvenile for adults. Although well served by its human actors (Bruce Greenwood, Hayden Panettiere and Wendie Malick) and voice cast (which features Dustin Hoffman, Frankie Muniz and Whoopi Goldberg), this remains a charmless, predictable and rather dated confection.
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VIDEO Plus+: 39480
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Cast
Nolan Walsh - Bruce Greenwood
Channing Walsh - Hayden Panettiere
Woodzie - M Emmet Walsh
Clara Dalrymple - Wendie Malick
Stripes - Frankie Muniz
Sandy - Mandy Moore
Clydesdale - Michael Clarke Duncan
Reggie - Jeff Foxworthy
Trenton's Pride - Joshua Jackson
Goose - Joe Pantoliano
Ruffshodd - Michael Rosenbaum
Sir Trenton - Fred Dalton Thompson
Lightning - Snoop Dogg
Tucker - Dustin Hoffman
Franny - Whoopi Goldberg
Directed by: Frederik Du Chau
Filmed in: 2004
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