Product Description

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40422 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Customer Reviews

The movie Shergar ought to come with a warning.
As a devoted movie-lover and horse-owner, I must say I regret watching this movie. The only good that came from watching it is at least now I know who Shergar was.

The failure of this film rests entirely in its plot, which is pure fantasy (or nightmare) and utterly unrealistic. The ending is so atrocious it destroyed the little bit of pleasure that I experienced watching beautiful horses and scenery.

Before I purchased the movie (on sale), I read the description of the plot thinking it might be similar to "Flash." "Flash" is a very well made fictional Disney movie about a boy who steals back his horse from an abusive owner and rides it from Georgia to New Jersey to save its life and be reunited with his merchant-marine father.

Instead, the movie "Shergar" should come with a warning. It is far more similar to "Phar Lap," a well-produced drama which condenses the life of Australia's most famous flat-track Thoroughbred and ends with Phar Lap's sudden and mysterious death.

Like many pleasure-horse owners, I'm not an expert on the history--even the recent history--of international equine celebrities. But even if I had known that Shergar was most likely killed by his abductors, the horribly patched-up ending of the movie made me nearly physically ill with grief and shock.

I will probably keep the movie just as a part of my horse film collection, but I will never watch it again. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, but in this case the truth (still a mystery) is MUCH preferred to this piece of fiction, "based on a true story."

If you love horse movies, purchase a nice new DVD of Coppola's Classic, "The Black Stallion," or Disney's "Flash." You'll get all the beauty, suspense, and thrills without a sickening ending.

The Movie Poster/Cover Is Misleading . . .
The movie poster/cover is misleading, in that the movie star names at the top do not correspond with the faces under the names. The names on the cover are purely for recognition (sales), but all are in supporting roles. This would make a difference in Ireland, but I doubt that the names are as recognizable here in the U.S. The credits are in alphabetical order which, although fair, give no clue as to top billing. I suggest that the stars are as pictured, not as captioned or credited, i.e., Tom Walsh (foreground) as Kevin Doherty, Laura Murphy (middle) as Kate and Ian Holm (background, from Chariots of Fire) as Joseph Maguire, Kate's grandfather. I'm glad I did not read the back cover or reviews before viewing, as the container reveals the plot, as do some reviews, and it was more of a mystery as to what happens, who gets killed or whether the horse is killed in the dramatization of the true story. I felt unsatisfied with the ending, but what can be expected because Shergar's fate is still unknown after all these years. The movie/story is an example of how kidnapping can be just as senseless as terrorism and it happens that terrorists utilize kidnapping here in a convergance stranger than fiction, thus, a good story. Odd to have a story so much about a racehorse, but so little about horse racing. I would have liked to have seen more of the horse and less of the actors whose Irish brogues were heavy enough to cause me to turn the volume up to understand; I played it back in a few spots to catch what was said, but some phrases I could not decipher. The landscape is beautiful on the Isle of Man location and I appreciated the glimpse into Irish life. Not rated here for a theatrical release, the movie is a TV-14 on U.S. cable, probably for violence, as the language seems suitable for all ages. Sectarian-violence terrorism has ruined Ireland, in my opinion, and this adds a horse to the long list of victims.

What really happened to Shergar?
More than twenty years after the disappearance of the real-life great race horse, Shergar, the mystery continues as to what really happened to him. [Those involved, years later, said he was so high-strung they shot him just hours or a day or two after he was stolen because they couldn't handle him. Since Shergar was owned by the Aga Khan, worth about $4-5 billion at the time, ransom was immediately ruled out.] With this in mind, this movie should be watched, not as a docudrama but as fiction, with only the horse's name and kidnapping being factual.

Both my wife and I were fully captivated by the story until the unexpected ending. As with most movies, there are a few "holes" in the story, but not enough to detract from the adventure and suspense. We enjoyed the movie (and we own more than a thousand DVD movies related to kids and teens). Because we could not stop rooting for the boy to save the horse, I rate it an above average, but not a classic, horse movie.

[Parents might wish to discuss with their kids what the boy should have done with the hores instead of what he actually did.]