by ANNE MARIE MARKO

Hmmm. A willful teenage girl—with goddess hair—and a massive black horse—also with goddess hair—spend the summer together breaking one another in, conquering one another... and themselves. Sound hot to you? Please say no.

In all seriousness, though, I was almost prepared to bring my MP3 player to this screening and make a little pillow out of my sweater just in case I found myself on the last train to Snoresville—with stops along the way in Maudlin, Manipulative, Hackneyed and, finally, Bullshit. Yet almost schmaltz-free, well acted and full of pretty horses, Flicka actually tells a timeless story pretty well.

When headstrong Katy McLaughlin comes home from boarding school for the summer, all she wants to do is ride horses on her family's ranch in Wyoming and tame Flicka, the wild mustang she found in the bush while out riding. Already on thin ice when her parents receive word that she may have to re-do a year of school after crapping out on an important essay, Katy is ever more determined to keep her horse. So when her dad sells Flicka to an unsavoury character for use in a local rodeo to help pay Katy’s tuition for another year of boarding school, she must resort to desperate and potentially dangerous measures to prove she and Flicka are kindred spirits meant to be together.

Alison Lohman is convincing in her portrayal of Katy, a young woman with a fire in her soul that cannot be extinguished, no matter what her Daddy says. As Rob McLaughlin, Katy’s equally stubborn dad, country music singer Tim McGraw (sporting a bad toupee) is credible as the loving father just trying to do what’s right for his family.

Mary O’Hara’s novel My Friend Flicka, was previously adapted for the big screen in 1943 (starring Roddy McDowall!) and for TV in 1956. Directed by Michael Mayer (A Home at the End of the World), this version of Flicka ultimately emerges as sweet without being saccharine, engaging without being too melodramatic. Who could have imagined such a thing might have emerged from yet another cynical Hollywood remake of a classic family film?

Flicka opens this Friday, Oct. 20

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