What do you do when you are a circus zebra and are left behind by the rest of the circus?
In the movie “Racing Stripes” a zebra is left behind by the circus and taken in by a horse trainer. The horse trainers daughter Channing falls immediately in love with the zebra and it quickly becomes part of the family.
This talking animal movie is about Channings desire to be a jockey, and Stripes desire to be a race horse, something that they both feel like they are being held back from. In the movie the two train together in order to compete in the Kentucky Open. Stripes has never encountered another Zebra and does not realize that he is not a horse. He feels the need to race and thinks he could be just as good if not better than the horses he sees racing on the track.
The animals in this movie are all able to talk. The thoroughbred horses in the film often ridicule Stripes and make him feel like he will never be able to be as great as they are or race competitively.
This is a cute movie for younger children done in the same style as the movie Babe. Children will delight in watching animals speaking in the movie. I was personally a huge fan of the movie Babe, so Racing Stripes was a fun one for me, not as good as Babe, but still pretty good.
Overall this film is delightful for children of all ages and I would recommend it for any child in elementary school and up. Some adult issues are tackle in the film including Channing’s fathers reluctance to let her ride because of her mothers death in a riding accident. There are also a few potty jokes and juvenile humor that children will find hilarious and adults will find kind of dumb.
You can purchase the movie “Racing Stripes” at any store that sells DVDs or online at Amazon.com.