Orphan Horse

Shelly (Alexa Nisenson) runs away from home and ends up at Ben Crowley's (John Voight) farm and she bonds with a horse she later names Orphan.

Just like every now and then we need a great big juicy cheeseburger, we also need to see a very nice story about a 12-year old girl and a horse. Yes, at times, this will get a little sappy, but we know that will happen and we are okay with it. We have our Kleenex boxes at the ready.

The real winner in here is the banter between Ben and Shelly as it is real, innocent and honest. This is a movie we never want to end mostly because we really like Ben and Shelly. I have never seen John Voight is a more comfortable role and I don't think he wanted this to end either. As for Miss Nisenson, she is 12 going on 30 and her character has had tragedy in her young Iife and her uttterances are full of honesty and truth. Ben has met his match and you may be able to see regrets in some of his reflections when Shelly causes some of his memories to surface.

Notables: Vail Bloom as Caroline, Ben's estranged daughter; Phillip Boyd as Sheriff Jake, who wants to marry Caroline; Eva LaRue as Marta Jenkins, Shelly's foster mother; Scott Summitt as Gerald Jenkins, Shelly's foster father.

This is a very good family movie and the dialogues are so good we don't want them to end. Now, do we want fries with that cheeseburger? Hmmm............... (9/10)

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Humor: Yes. Language: No. Rating: A