Flicka 2, which hits Walmart shelves exclusively today (4 May), is actually the fifth movie in the Flicka series, so I think a little recounting of that history should come first. The urge to groan about this being a DTV sequel to the remake of a 60+ year-old movie needs to be mitigated a bit. This is not remotely as bizarre an idea for a DVD-only sequel as is Marley and Me: The Terrible Twos (which is coming out soon).
Country legend Clint Black (l.) and Patrick Warburton (r.) in Flicka 2
The original My Friend Flicka, from 1943, featured a young boy with an out-of-place English accent (played by Roddy McDowell), whereas the do-over starred a post-adolescent, sassy young woman played by Alison Lohman. In both films, the spirit of a wild mustang inspires a young person to find focus and purpose in life. It's a theme often handled (badly) by The Hallmark Channel.
I've always loved westerns, but since marrying an honest-to-goodness, barrel-racing cowgirl, I've watched enough plain ol' "horse people movies" to make most people sick. The original and the remake are tolerable and actually quite touching in places if you've ever had a connection to companion animal of any sort.
The Flicka series was into sequels and rebooting over a half century before the 2006 remake happened. My Friend Flicka did very well financially, and two years later was followed by Thunderhead - Son of Flicka (1945). The sequel picked up with the same boy (again played by McDowell), now training the foal of his beloved Flicka to be a champion racehorse. It was shot in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah (a beauty to behold), and is notable for being the first American film shot completely on color 35mm negative.
Three years later, Green Grass of Wyoming was cobbled together with a different actor playing the McDowell role in the same continuity. Thunderhead [COURTESY SPOILER ALERT] is causing headaches for ranchers by leading their brood mares off to join his mustang herd in the wild [END SPOILER]. GGoW was nominated for the Oscar for Best Color Cinematography, but didn't win.
Fox released a three-movie slimpack set of the original Flicka trilogy a few years ago, which is now available from Amazon for $26.99. Ashley and I watched the three of them a couple of years ago, and they don't age so well as you go through them, but they're worth it if you dig Cinema du Cheval (Cinema of the Horse in my version of French).
So, sequelization and brand exploitation are nothing new to the world of Flicka. Frankly, I'd rather the studios revive 60-year-old horse franchises than invent franchises out of board games. That doesn't change the fact that Flicka 2 is no better than the very best of cable TV movies. It isn't particularly compelling, nor is it horrible like the Zac Efron-starring The Derby Stallion. It simply "is" in a bland, inoffensive, and uncontroversial way.
Flicka 2 takes place in the same continuity as the 2006 movie, but with a completely new cast of characters. Tammin Sursok (The Young and the Restless) plays Carrie, the skateboarding city girl cousin of the first movie's heroine. Her mom ditched Hank (Patrick Warburton) 17 years ago and high-tailed it for Pittsburgh when he got her pregnant.
Carrie has been living with her grandmother since her mom died, and when grandma goes senile, Carrie is sent off to her dad's horse ranch in Wyoming. Carrie is captivated by the same mustang named Flicka, who now lives on Hank's ranch since the girl from the first movie went off to veterinary school. It bears mentioning that Flicka, who is supposed to be a mustang, is played in the film by an Arabian horse.
With the exception of some dodgy digital photography here and there, the movie looks good. Sursok spent a couple of weeks learning to ride, according to one of the featurettes, and she is believable only in that her character isn't supposed to be a very proficient rider in the first place. She continues the tradition of 27-year-olds playing teenagers with aplomb.
Warburton is the real standout here, getting to do something other than situation comedy for once (not that he doesn't earn a few laughs). When I caught his name on the press release I said, "why hasn't anyone used this guy in a western yet?" He's built and born for it. Warburton gets whatever "there" there is to be gotten here. The emotional undercurrent is all his, and without him, the movie would be just another husk. I wish we got to see him do work that really took advantage of his full range.
Clint Black is in here as an incentive to buy for the target audience, but he's actually pretty damn agreeable. The supporting cast are mostly forgettable, especially the "cowboy" Carrie falls for. He's country-as-can-be until he gets a guitar in his hand and starts singing in John Mayer mode.
Michael Damian (yes, the soap actor and singer) makes this his second "horse movie" after the Don Johnson-starring Moondance Alexander. He even sings on the soundtrack. I'm really sorry that his name immediately brings two things to mind: a Patton Oswalt comedy routine and his less-than-stellar turn in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He's got a solid gig going here, and I can say his horsey flicks are much better than the sea of others in the same vein.
Regardless, I wish people were making good movies involving horses. I miss The West.