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Thursday, May 26, 2022

DCOM Doesn't Horse Around: Horse Sense

Disney  The lookback 



      This time we head to a 1999 Disney Channel Original movie with the Lawrence brothers well Joey Lawrence and his younger brother, Andy. (The Latter shows up in 4 Disney Channel Original Movies) At the time Andy was the voice of T.J on "Disney's Recess". "Horse Sense" premiered on November 20, 1999.  Let's get started. 

         The movie starts with Andy Lawrence playing a boy named Tommy who lives on a ranch in Montana. (Also shots of food, yum)  He's going on a trip to see his cousin Michael, who is played by Andy's older brother, Joey.  Tommy sets up some stuff for the movie, like there's some money issues and his father is no longer alive. (We paid money for the Lawrence brothers, we had to cut somewhere, Disney Probably) Michael lives in Beverly Hills (That's where I want to be) and he is better off than his cousin, you can see by his fancy room and alarm clock. He's more a lazy college student, who's also selfish which we need for the plot. 
The way he's wearing the sweater shows he's kind of a jerk/ Copyright Disney



         Michael has this new girlfriend named Gina, who is also a rich girl (She can rely on the old man's money) whom he seems to really like. He finally picks up Tommy after forgetting, and this is going to set up how this going to go with him and Tommy.  (The Disney movie is bold enough to mention Disneyland in the Disney movie ; Disney) Tommy's aunt and uncle get to be conveniently  out of the movie to make sure we make sure Michael can be a jerk. (Well done!)   It is kind of funny they make Tommy seemingly so nice, that anything done to him would make it seem like a worse slight than it already was.  You know what? This movie is a divorced dad is busy,which is why he's divorced, plot. Just swap out that with a selfish 20-year-old and cousin.  

It would be weird if his brother was playing as his father / Copyright Disney 

more after the jump

      The movie does a montage of Tommy being sad at the fancy house, then he starts to hang out with Arlene, the housekeeper. She's not happy that Michael hasn't been with Tommy at all. So Michael offers corporate synergy and they are going to Disneyland. Enter Gina, she wants the dumb guy to meet her father so of course, he does that and leaves Tommy at some preschool play spot. Oh look horse racing in a Disney Channel movie with gambling cool. 
Guys you are in the wrong Disney Channel Movie/ Copyright Disney 



             Michael, in a hurry, dents a car and then goes to where he left Tommy and can't find him. This movie really just wanted us to laugh at Joey Lawrence go through a kiddie tunnel for a while, huh?  Michael's parents came back, just when the plot needs them. Tommy leaves the next day, as planned and the parents find out what happened from Tommy's mother, who is Michael's mother's sister.  Also, just a the right time, the police show up about the car denting.  The parents decide to have Michael go to Montana and learn something for the next month, so we can finally get to the plot of the movie.  If there's one negative remark from Tommy or his aunt he's not going on his trip he wants to go on. 
CW's Walker Texas Ranger/ Copyright Disney 



      Michael dresses like an LA person thinks people in Montana people dress. (Also the middle Lawrence brother, Matthew, makes an appearance here too) We also get awkward Tommy and Michael scenes. mostly because of the subtle worry that Tommy's mother didn't get a loan, she was hoping to get. It's nice bit subtlety you don't catch unless you are older than the kid audience the movie is made for,it's also well done they also don't want Michael to know either. Michael meets the others who work at the ranch.  Funny enough, this movie called "Horse Sense" hasn't really horsed ,yet, we are like 30 minutes in and not much horse sensing. 

Horse...power ...sense  / Copyright Disney and Ford Motor Company 



         Tommy gets back at Michael by convincing him to stay up late, when there's an early wake up because this is a ranch. Tommy also uses the fact he knows about  the French Rivera trip over Michael as swell. It's kind of a funny change over how sweet and carefree he was earlier , but you also might be happy that Michael is getting some pay back. That's this part of the movie, where it's essentially Tommy messing with Michael as pay back. In the background, we find out more about the problems like an auction is coming up because they are losing the ranch. 
Also "bacon comes from pigs not Turkeys"  Copyright Disney 



        There's also this unfinished tree house that Tommy and his late father worked on but wasn't finished. Tommy works on it for a while at time. I think the best thing about this movie is Andy and Joey's acting, since they are brothers they already have chemistry  and that shows up in this movie very well.  Michael is showing signs of enjoying Montana's beauty at least and almost squished by cattle because of his cellphone ringing. (Well that's dead now)  Michael gets mad at Tommy and says the payback stuff is over and they get into an argument and decide not to leave each other alone. Michael finds out that this aunt and Tommy are about to lose the ranch from Twister.


        This makes Michael decide to do some work on the ranch after all in montage form! He also works to make up with Tommy. This part is well done and it's kind of relaxing, there is a more relaxed feel to this movie than you'd expect.    Michael decides to call his dad who already knows, but they didn't want the help because of pride. Michael things of ideas that might not work. (He learned about pyramid schemes, those aren't good, Michael.) That tree house from earlier is in the plot again as Michael decides to just finish it himself as as how of kindness, this was a bad idea.     Tommy didn't like this, because it was his and his dad's project. 
Dismantle the establishment/ Copyright Disney 



     There is a dramatic moment with a horse getting stuck and it shows these two bonding well in their helping. Now, Michael has to leave, but we don't have time, so hmm. (yes) He's back home and spending time with girlfriend and her father and figures out he doesn't like horse racing anymore. A horse gets spooked, and he uses his new horse sense (yes we said that) to help calm him down. Michael decides to sell his car , not take a trip to France, use some of his trust fund money to find away to help the ranch instead. He goes back to Montana but his aunt rejects the money because she knows the place is bad investment. 


        It's auction day and everything seems lost.   Then he reminders something from school, which is something from earlier in the movie, and fins a way to save the ranch! He makes a deal with the bank on a land trust.  Michael stops he auction.  He got an extension because the protects wild horses and if they get the land trust and won't have to worry anymore. The movie ends with those two working on the tree house.  
This was also a save the ranch movie / Copyright Disney 


     This is a good movie, there's something about the earliest Dcoms that seem to have their own feel to them. It's a simple movie with a simple story.  The title is little off, there's not much a horse focus in this movie, if anything it has more cattle than horses, but alright. I say the best part of the movie is the Lawrence brothers that bring entertainment and they play their roles well, and the natural chemistry they have plays off well. It's a good movie, so do give it watch. 
       
    That's it for now, tune in next time, when we move to Montana. 
  
        

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