FLICKA — ** — Alison Lohman, Tim McGraw, Maria Bello; rated PG (violence, mild profanity).
Somewhere between "Friday Night Lights" and the new family film "Flicka," Tim McGraw forgot how to act.
In the 2004 picture "Friday Night Lights," the country-music star made a credible father (even if his character was unsympathetic. But McGraw's painfully stiff and awkward performance in "Flicka" works against the film, and he's a central character.
That's a big problem for a film that's already hobbling a bit.
This version makes some changes to Mary O'Hara's book, "My Friend Flicka," led by the main character becoming female, a private-school student, Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman), who is failing. Katy's lack of scholastic dedication has her butting heads with her ranch-owner father (McGraw), who is also worried about various financial struggles.
The impudent teen makes things worse when she decides to ride off on horseback and encounters a mountain lion. Thankfully, a black mustang shows up and runs the big cat off.
So Katy urges her father to bring in the wild horse, which she's already nicknamed Flicka. But when he does, it's with reluctance, and father and daughter nearly come to blows over his plans for the animal.
Twentysomething Lohman ("Matchstick Men") is getting a little too old to play teenage characters, though she's still believable here. And, as always, Maria Bello is a welcome presence as the patient and wiser wife and mother.
Screenwriters Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner ("Mona Lisa Smile") do add a few surprising twists to the material, and it's handsomely photographed. Scenes of horses running in the wild may make the film worthwhile for some in the audience.
Some of this is a bit intense for a PG film, however, and children may be upset by the mountain-lion scenes.
"Flicka" is rated PG for animal-related violence (including a mountain-lion attack and some rodeo action), and scattered use of mostly mild profanity (much of it religion-based). Running time: 100 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com