In modern-day Wyoming, teenager Katy McLaughlin dreams of working on and, one day, taking over her father’s ranch. She tames a mustang and names her Flicka, then finds that she and her new equine companion are more alike than she imagined. After her father sells Flicka, Katy schemes to win back the horse by entering a dangerous race. Based on the novel by Mary O’Hara.
Why, that sounds exactly like My Friend Flicka, except in the novel by O’Hara, Katy is Ken, a pre-teen, who has to work on the ranch, who wants a horse of his own, who picks one that isn’t a mustang, who then tries to save her life after she is injured when she tries to jump a too-high fence. There is no race, no scheming, no selling of the horse, no girls, and dammit, why not just start from scratch instead of twisting an old novel to fit a new generation? It’s silly.
Hmmm…did you know that “flicka” in Swedish means “girl” ?
In the novel, there’s a Swedish character who sees the filly and says something like “What a fine little flicka” and tells the boy Ken that it means “girl.” That’s where the horse’s name comes from. In the movie, it’s probably something entirely different, and stupid!