In my recent review of Nowhere Boy, I wrote about the components of a successful biopic or true story movie. If the movie really does its job, you come away having learned something, and if the film is truly successful, it pulls you in no matter your interest in the subject matter. But, what if the movie in question can't find its focus? While it's unfortunate when it happens, one can understand when a fiction film meanders, but it's a head-scratcher when it occurs in a biopic. That's the case with Secretariat.

Secretariat opens in 1969, where Penny (Diane Lane) gets the message that her mother has died. She returns to her family's Virginia horse farm for the funeral, where she learns that her father's (Scott Glenn) Alzheimer's-like symptoms have limited his abilities. She also learns that the farm is in trouble. A life-long horse lover, she decides to postpone returning to Denver and her family, and takes the reins of the farm. She fires the trainer and becomes involved in a deal her dad had made which has to do with the accusation of a new foal. The foal shows great promise, so Penny hires trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) to oversee it. Despite the fact that financial woes burden the farm and her family misses her, Penny presses ahead with her belief that the horse, named Secretariat, can be a racing champion. However, horse racing is a man's sport and Penny may face a bigger challenge than the horse.

As I've written in the past, there is no genre more predictable and cookie-cutter than the sports movie. Between the training montages and the scrappy underdogs, even the best sports movie has some cliched moments. Secretariat follows the model of the standard sports movie, and contains many of the familiar elements. We get a training montage, we get slow-motion finishes, we get an injury which effects a big event. (We don't, however, get a scene where Secretariat gets drunk and crashes his Camaro the night before the big game.) It's very obvious that Disney looked at some of their other movies, such as Miracle or Invincible, and decided that the story of Secretariat could fit this mold.

The problem with Secretariat is that instead of having a team of lovable misfits or a struggling athlete at its core, it has a horse. For a horse, he has screen presence, but it's difficult to build a movie around him. This is further hampered by the fact that horse racing is a very brief and specific activity, so it's difficult to stretch out the drama. Instead, the movie places much of its emphasis on Penny's story and attempts to make this a feminist film. While those in the field respect Penny's father, they don't take her seriously at first and she has to struggle to make her voice heard. Lucien is portrayed as a loose cannon who may not be able to do the job. These two suddenly take the place of the underdog sports team and we are asked to cheer for them as they attempt to make Secretariat a champion. The movie loses focus with Penny's story and we can't help but wonder how her family is taking the fact that she spends most of her time half-way across the country.

The movie's other major flaws didn't become evident until I watched the brief "Heart of a Champion" documentary included on the Blu-ray Disc. This piece was far more moving than the actual movie and not just because it showed Secretariat's grave. Being a sports movie, Secretariat makes the horse out to be an underdog. In reality, he set records with every race that he won and it appears that very few doubted his abilities. Also, we learn in the documentary that it was discovered that Secretariat's heart was twice the size of a normal horse heart. I can't believe that they didn't use that in the movie! It's so obvious!

It's been a while since we've had a horse-racing movie and Secretariat is certainly an obvious choice for a film. And the movie does a good job of taking us inside the world of horse-racing. However, the story is unfocused and there isn't much emotion here, especially if you already know why Secretariat is famous to begin with.

Secretariat shows us that multi-million dollar decisions can be made with a coin-toss on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 28 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look excellent, most noticeably the green pastures, and the picture is never overly dark or bright. The picture has a nice amount of detail and textures are obvious on objects. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The horse races provide great sound, as the thundering hooves rock the subwoofer and the passing horses fill the surround sound speakers. The stereo effects during these scenes are nicely done as well, especially from the cheering crowds.

The Secretariat Blu-ray Disc contains an assortment of extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Randall Wallace. "Heart of a Champion" (15 minutes) is a mini-documentary which examines Secretariat's career. Using real footage of Secretariat's races (including most of the Belmont in its entirety) and interviews with the real people who are characterized in the movie, we learn just how unusual and special this horse was. (It's sort of chilling and moving when they show Secretariat's grave.) "Choreographing the Races" (6 minutes) takes us behind the scenes to show how the horse action was photographed for the film. "A Director's Inspiration: A Conversation with the Real Penny Chenery" (21 minutes) has Wallace and the real-life horse owner talking about the reality of the film and what it was like to capture her life story. The Disc contains seven DELETED SCENES which run about eleven minutes and can be viewed with optional commentary from Wallace. Wallace says in his intro that he doesn't like to waste film, so there's nothing groundbreaking here. "Multi-angle Simulation" offers five different views of the Preakness with commentary from jockey Mike Smith. The final extra is the MUSIC VIDEO for the song "It's Who You Are" by AJ Michalka.