Although I wanted to see something else, my niece wanted to see<br /><br />"Hidalgo," and I'm glad we did. It's a good three-star film. We all enjoyed ourselves, Viggo is a down-to-earth hero, and the horse himself is adorable.<br /><br />I really expected to see Rachel Weisz or Brendan Fraser to pop out at some point. (Brendan would have been great as the lead.) After watching "The Mummy" twenty times, Arabia now seems both exotic and happily familiar. The photography is well seen and often flat-out beautiful. As with the LOTR, the "modified to fit your screen" video wont't do it justice. Yet my favorite shot was the one of the locust staring into Viggo's eyeballs. Funny!<br /><br />I wish "Hidalgo" had swept me away like "The Mummy" did. Somehow, despite the great sets and action sequences, the characters remained a bit wooden (except for the Sheik's daughter) and didn't grab my heart.<br /><br />That said, this movie is about personal character, finding depth to overcome obstacles, and the value of keeping promises. And those are still important lessons to learn; they're as ageless as the sands.