DVD Review: Joe Johnston’s Hidalgo on Touchstone Home Entertainment

This Hidalgo DVD scores a big zero in the features department, but wait ‘til you take a look at the image and sound quality.

HidalgoBased on a supposedly true story, director Joe Johnston’s Hidalgo is a multicultural mishmash in which a disillusioned American soldier accidentally finds himself trapped in a hostile foreign society, only to ultimately earn the natives’ admiration through his conviction, gallantry, and knack for kicking ass. In other words, it’s Edward Zwick’s The Last Samurai except that proud Arabs substitute for the dignified Japanese, and our rugged hero is given a stout, mixed-blood equine sidekick named Hidalgo.

Frank T. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen), a famous long-distance horse racer and dutiful Pony Express courier, is grief-stricken by his unwitting role in the slaughter of a Sioux tribe at the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre. In response, the infidel retreats to a life of drinking and debasement working as a novelty act for Buffalo Bill Cody’s (J.K. Simmons) traveling Wild West extravaganza. Angered by Buffalo Bill’s claim that Hopkins is the greatest long-distance rider in the world, representatives of horse-breeding Arabian Sheikh Riyadh (a credibly magisterial Omar Sharif) deliver an ultimatum: drop the moniker, or prove your mettle in “The Ocean of Fire,” a 3,000-mile marathon race across the Arabian desert.

The Arabs are prejudiced and priggish, frightened of Hidalgo knocking up one of their beloved horses, and intent on keeping women—namely, the Sheikh’s feminist daughter Jazira (Zuleikha Robinson)—docile and invisible. None of this intolerance sits well with the half-Native American Hopkins. When he’s not fending off the advances of devious horse connoisseur Lady Davenport (Louise Lombard) or navigating the traps set by his cutthroat Bedouin competition during the race, Hopkins is busy convincing the Arabs (and, in the process, himself) to embrace cultural diversity, individualism, and self-determination.

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In the hands of Johnston, such well-intentioned but clumsily executed themes complement a few old-fashioned swashbuckling set pieces, which combine the pulpy playfulness of Indiana Jones (a daring gunfight rescue mission) with plagiarized special effects from The Mummy and Gladiator (a ferocious sand storm, CGI cheetahs). One can feel the Spielberg protégé straining for Lawrence of Arabia cred through Shelly Johnson’s elegant but slow-mo congested cinematography and James Newton Howard’s generically inspirational score.

Unfortunately for them, squishy moralizing and scenic rotund sand dunes do not an epic make. As for Mortensen, he exhibits an unassuming poise that helps counteract the film’s efforts to transform the jockey into legend. But as strange as this may sound, the actor has zero chemistry with Hidalgo, a nondescript peripheral presence only asked to periodically address Mortensen with a few well-timed neighs or disparaging looks over his shoulder. For a film named Hidalgo, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for more than a Mr. Ed retread.

Image/Sound

With only a measly nine-minute featurette cluttering this DVD edition of Hidalgo, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the image and sound quality of this transfer is as good as it is. From the opening winter scenes and shots of purple mountains majesty to the sun-burnt dunes of the Arabian horses, the image on this DVD, save for the occasional edge enhancement, is consistently breathtaking. And with the horses in the film on constant parade, it also shouldn’t come as a surprise that the folks at Buena Vista Home Entertainment have decided to include a DTS track here. The sound is so good that Hidalgo’s hoofsteps are as powerful as Mortensen’s deep-throated delivery.

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Extras

If you already knew that Hidalgo’s spots were spray-painted on him, then the “Sand and Shield” will probably be as mundane as these kinds of making-of featurettes come. (As for the 22-minute “America’s First Horse” enhanced feature, it’s only available via your computer.) Also included here are previews of Mr. 3000, The Alamo, The Young Black Stallion, and Around the World in 80 Days. (On the Bonus Features menu, click on the Easter egg in the lower left-hand corner for Hidalgo recollections from a series of Native Americans.)

Overall

This Hidalgo DVD scores a big zero in the features department, but wait ‘til you take a look at the image and sound quality.

Score: 
 Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Omar Sharif, Zuleikha Robinson, Adam Alexi-Malle, Louise Lombard, Said Taghmaoui, Adoni Maropis  Director: Joe Johnston  Screenwriter: John Fusco  Distributor: Touchstone Home Entertainment  Running Time: 134 min  Rating: PG-13  Year: 2004  Release Date: August 3, 2004  Buy: Video, Soundtrack

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