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Racing Stripes | 125137__stripes_l
CAN A ZEBRA WIN A HORSE RACE? CAN AN AUDIENCE CARE LESS? Hayden Panettiere's pretty pony
Blid Alsbirk
Presented by Moviefone

Credits

Release Date: Jan 14, 2005; Rated: PG; Length: 97 Minutes; With: Bruce Greenwood, Frankie Muniz and Hayden Panettiere
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By Scott Brown
Scott Brown
Scott Brown
Scott Brown writes the Hit List for EW and is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio -- he has the tote bag to prove it

For the jaded adult, there's something casually terrifying about Racing Stripes. The kids in my theater were unfazed, cheering on plucky zebra Stripes (sullenly voiced by Frankie Muniz) as he overcomes thoroughbred prejudice to compete in the ''Kentucky Open.'' Yup, it's a ''race'' picture — but there are good reasons why zebras and horses don't mix on the track (unbridgeable size and speed differentials come to mind), and no amount of CGI can disguise them. So what disturbed me? Was it the manic poo humor? The dead-eyed charmlessness of the creatures (voiced by Snoop Dogg and, it seems, whoever wasn't busy with a relaunch of Celebrity Mole)? The gratingly referential sub-Shrek script? No, it was the Shetland pony, which sports both Dustin Hoffman's pipes and his I Heart Huckabees toupee, and will haunt my nightmares forever.


Posted Jan 12, 2005
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