Seabiscuit is a good, heartwarming, and emotional human interest story, but it has very little action to occupy the viewer’s attention. To quote an accompanying viewer, “It was kind of boring and just about a horse.”  With a two hour and twenty-five minute running time boredom can easily occur — that is, if a slow and informative picture does not appeal to you.

If Seabiscuit was not based on a true story, viewers would be displeased with the timing, arrangement, and anticlimactic ending. Though boring, the film still moves way too fast.  This is because the filmmakers pack a lot of happenings into such a short amount of time. Also, this picture isn’t oriented for a fidgety audience — as the beginning is more like a slow PBS documentary, rather than a drama that gradually applies character development and a plot with intensity.

The film does a superb job with its depiction of The Great Depression, the correlation between the horse, jockey, and owner hitting rock bottom just as the stock market did.  It then goes on to show that when all of those involved with Seabiscuit began to display a winning spirit and happiness, so did the American people. However, factually this film is slightly inaccurate; it incorrectly depicts, or even omits in some cases, several of the horse’s historical happenings.

For example, the film shows Seabiscuit easily race to the lead in the final furlong of the last race from about twenty lengths off the pace — when in reality he actually advanced from second place to win, not from dead last. However, in Hollywood, things like this must be dramatized for effect leaving the audience better able to grasp the Rocky-esque work-hard-for-the-comeback feeling that is so inevitably desired in almost all sports films these days. Also, the keen eye can observe slight differences in Seabiscuit, for it isn’t one horse playing the racing legend, but, in fact, ten different horses—some having distinct coloration and size differences. But again, multiple animal actors are just another "necessary evil." In addition, the closing sequence is borderline irksome.  It just ends without filling everyone in on any of the team member’s lives, including the horse.

If there are viewers who don’t know the factual story that takes place after the credits roll, here goes...

By ending the film where the movie splendidly shows the triumph and success of the heavy underdogs in a very inspirational way, the filmmakers played it safe. If they would continue on with the characters’ life stories, the movie would take a negative turn, which would obviously not fit the movie’s uplifting Americana goals.

After all of the success depicted in the film, the jockey, Red Pollard (played by Tobey Maguire), went on to retire and never ride again resorting to a life of being both a valet-parking attendant and a boot cleaner, up until his death at the age of 71. And as for Seabiscuit, he died premature at the age of 14 (horses normally live well into their twenties and sometimes into their thirties) after eventually fading out of the horse-racing business altogether. It is sad how Hollywood can show only the positive portions of the story and leave out the true story downers all for dramatic effect.