Viggo Mortensen does a good job as Frank Hopkins. And we really feel for Hidalgo since he is a pinto pony, and not a thouroughbred Arabian horse like his competitors.
Two things that are not necessarily part of the story are done up in a big way. First up, we see a rendering of the massacre and Wounded Knee creek. Then we get to see a reenactment of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. History buffs might go gaga over these two and debate the merits and accuracy.
One important tip that belongs in the Evil Overlord list: Never send cats to do a man's job. Two wild leopards are sent to kill Hidalgo and Frank. Most of the sound effects were good. But when a horse steps on a leopard, it sounds just like a domestic cat getting its tail mashed.
Omar Sharif is the likeable sheik of sheiks, or we could assume, the forfather of the current bin Saud dynasty. His nephew is evil, possibly homosexual and bears more than a passing resemblence to Satan and Saddam Hussein's love child....
One detail that is driven home is that to see the sheik's daughter is to risk castration. But then (SPOILER) at the end of the movie they walk down the beach together, ALONE, without GUARDS, and she has her VEIL OFF! That one bugs me.
This was a little better than I expected, and yes people are dying of thirst.... {BB}
See Expectation