| Racing Stripes | |
| Director: | Frederik Du Chau |
| Screenplay: | David Schmidt |
| Music: | Mark Isham |
| Starring: |
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| Cinematography: | David Eggby |
| Editing: | Tom Finan |
| Studio: | Alcon Entertainment |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. Pictures (United States/Canada) Summit Entertainment (International) |
| Runtime: | 101 minutes |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United States |
| Budget: | $30 million |
| Gross: | $90.8 million[1] |
Racing Stripes is a 2005 American sports comedy family film directed by Frederik Du Chau. The film was produced by Andrew A. Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Lloyd Phillips and Edward L. McDonnell, based on a script written by David Schmidt, Steven P. Wegner, Kirk DeMicco and Du Chau.
The film tells the story of Stripes, a circus plains zebra who is accidentally abandoned in Kentucky and raised on a farm next to a racing track. Believing he is a racehorse, Stripes dreams of training for and competing in the races. The film stars Hayden Panettiere, Bruce Greenwood, Wendie Malick and M. Emmet Walsh, with the vocal and voice talents of Frankie Muniz, Mandy Moore, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jeff Foxworthy, Joshua Jackson, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Rosenbaum, Steve Harvey, David Spade, Snoop Dogg, Fred Dalton Thompson, Dustin Hoffman and Whoopi Goldberg.
Racing Stripes was released theatrically January 14, 2005, by Warner Bros. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $90 million worldwide.
During a thunderstorm, a traveling circus, Circus Sarano, accidentally leaves behind a baby plains zebra after replacing a flat tire. The foal is rescued by widower and former racehorse trainer Nolan Walsh, and is taken to his farm, where his 13-year-old daughter, Channing, names him Stripes. He meets a Shetland pony named Tucker, a Saanen goat named Franny, and a Rhode Island Red named Reggie. The next day, Stripes becomes convinced that he is destined for the nearby racetrack, Turfway Park, unaware that he is not a horse, but a zebra. Two foals named Trenton's Pride and Ruffshodd decide to race Stripes, until they are stopped by Pride's father, three-time Kentucky Open champion, Sir Trenton.
Three years later, an adult Stripes meets an Arabian filly named Sandy and develops a crush on her after losing to the mailman in their usual race. While talking to Sandy, he is approached by Pride and Ruffshodd, while Channing's bloodhound, Lightning, is lazy and talks while he rests. Pride challenges Stripes to a race at a secret racetrack in the woods called the Blue Moon Races; he accepts but loses the race.
The following day, Tucker, having secretly watched Stripes, approaches him and suggests that he gets proper training first. Stripes, in need of a rider, chooses 16-year-old Channing, and convinces a new farm animal, a pelican named Goose, to sabotage Channing's motorcycle and Old Blue, Nolan's old pickup truck, so that Channing can ride him to her workplace at Turfway Park. The plan works, and Channing, with Nolan's reluctant approval, rides Stripes to Turfway Park. There, Channing is antagonized by her boss, Clara Dalrymple, for bringing Stripes to the racetrack, while Stripes meets a pair of horse-fly brothers, Buzz and Scuzz.
As night approaches, Channing, remembering her first ride on horseback with her late mother Carolyn, completes a lap around the track with Stripes. They are approached by Woodzie, a racetrack gambler and old friend of the family, who encourages Channing to sign up her and Stripes for a tryout race the next day. She does, despite Nolan's disapproval stemming from Carolyn’s death in an accident six years ago, which has since discouraged him from continuing to train horses, but Stripes has a major meltdown after being easily scared by the horse gate like all the other horses at the tryouts. Once he calms down, he begins running, but gets hit in the face by flying dirt while racing, causing Channing to fall off. Although she is uninjured, Nolan chastises and blames her. When Dalrymple mocks her riding skills, Nolan defends his daughter. In response, Dalrymple sarcastically signs Stripes to compete in the Kentucky Open competition.
Meanwhile, Stripes finally realizes he is a zebra after being told off by Sir Trenton, which severely discourages him. Despite Channing's pleas and Woodzie's encouragement, Nolan refuses to let her race Stripes. Realizing this, the farm animals lure Nolan into the farm to show him a table holding his past accomplishments, and he changes his mind. Meanwhile, due to Stripes's misbehavior during training, Franny reveals to Stripes that Tucker helped Nolan train the racehorse champions, including Sir Trenton, without getting any thanks, which encourages him to begin training.
Refusing to allow Stripes to race, Sir Trenton and several thoroughbreds ambush Stripes and Sandy at a creek as they are talking and making up for their previous argument, and they kidnap Sandy, threatening to hurt her if he races. The next day, after rescuing Stripes, Tucker, Franny and Goose agree to rescue Sandy. With a little help from Buzz and Scuzz, the rescue is successful, and they get back in time for Stripes to go to the race.
At the race, Nolan bets Dalrymple that if Stripes wins, he gets Sandy, and if he loses, he will come back to work for her. During the race, Ruffshodd, and even his jockey, try to stop Stripes from winning, until Scuzz gets them disqualified by biting Ruffshodd's rear end. Later, Stripes begins to wear out, until he finally remembers what Tucker taught him: "Don't look back. Leave it all on the track", which boosts his confidence. Stripes wins the race in a photo finish and earns respect from the other racehorses, including Pride. In the end, they all pose together in a group photo, which is later shown with the other previous Walsh wins.
On September 10, 2002, it was announced that Frederik Du Chau was hired and set to direct Racing Stripes. David Schmidt, Steven P. Wegner and Kirk DeMicco wrote the script for the film. Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Lloyd Phillips and Edward L. McDonnell produced the film with the budget of $30 million, for release in 2005. On November 22, it was announced that Bruce Greenwood, Hayden Panettiere, M. Emmet Walsh, Wendie Malick, Gary Bullock, Frankie Muniz, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Mandy Moore, Jeff Foxworthy, Joe Pantoliano, Fred Dalton Thompson, Joshua Jackson, Michael Rosenbaum, Snoop Dogg, Michael Clarke Duncan, Steve Harvey and David Spade joined the film. On March 25, 2003, it was announced that Mark Isham would compose the music for the film.
Two racing zebras, Sam and Daisy, were used in the film. Sam was more well-behaved, and "kind of wanted to be a horse", according to Tim Rivers, who trained him at the Animals in Motion farm near Citra, Florida. Sam had experience in , Second Noah and Sheena.[2]
During production of the film, Hayden Panettiere was thrown off a zebra and ended up hospitalized with a concussion and a pinched nerve in her neck. The producers forbade her from mentioning the injury during publicity for the film; she finally revealed it during a 2013 episode of British talk show The Graham Norton Show.[3]
In March 2003, Frankie Muniz was cast following his performance in Agent Cody Banks. On July 27, 2003, other cast members were announced, such as Hayden Panettiere, who would star opposite the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Joe Pantoliano, Mandy Moore, and Patrick Stewart.
Also joining the cast of voices were Joshua Jackson, Michael Rosenbaum, Steve Harvey, David Spade, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Jeff Foxworthy. In August, Bruce Greenwood was cast in the film. Patrick Stewart was originally going to voice Sir Trenton.
It was filmed at the Hollywoodbets Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa,[4] and Riverholm Country Estate in Nottingham Road, South Africa.[5] Development of the film was completed in Los Angeles, California. On May 21, Summit Entertainment and Warner Bros. acquired distribution rights to the film.
The film's score was composed by Mark Isham, who also produced and cowrote "Taking the Inside Rail" with Sting; "It Ain't Over Yet", heard when Channing and Nolan train Stripes, as well as at the end of the film, was written by Bryan Adams, Gretchen Peters and Eliot Kennedy, and produced by Adams. The soundtrack album was released January 11, 2005, on the Varèse Sarabande label.
Racing Stripes grossed $49.8 million in the United States and $41 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $90.8 million.[1]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 35% based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Racing Stripes might be good for a few laps with younger viewers, but it's too blandly predictable to truly recommend for an all-ages audience."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore give the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[8]