SALT LAKE CITY — We don’t see many well made films for young people these days, what with slashers, car chases, and drug-addled story lines. A quiet little independent film directed by Michael Damien, "Moondance Alexander," is a much-needed exception to today’s fare. Strong performances, beautiful scenery, and a warm, winning story makes this film one you can send your children to without concern. There’s no bad language, no violence, and no sex. Kay Panabaker is a wonderful new face among young stars. She plays Moondance Alexander, a high school freshman whose 44-year-old father has died. Lori Laughlin ("Full House") plays her mother, Gelsey, an all-natural artist and art teacher who cooks veggie burgers and tofu. While making deliveries for the local Saddlery store, run by James Best as Buck McClancy, Moondance happens upon a straying horse, a pinto, that instantly takes to the girl. Gelsey is less enchanted by the horse than her daughter, and immediately starts calling around to find its owner. McClancy finds the horse (a male with the unlikely name of Tinkerbell) belongs to a washed up riding instructor, Dante Longpré played by Don Johnson of "Miami Vice" fame. Longpré is gruff, cranky, and lonely, but Moondance, energetic and bluntly honest, convinces him to take her on as a stable worker. He trades her hard and unpleasant work for the chance to ride Tinkerbell (gratefully, Moondance renames him Checkers), and a partnership is born. As Moondance and Checkers work together and the girl’s riding skills improve, the ice surrounding Damien begins to melt. The girl and the horse soon force him to rise above the bottle with which he has been spending much of his spare time. Add to that warm story a couple of mean teens played by skater Sasha Cohen and Whitney Sloan, and Moondance has her hands full overcoming Damien’s loneliness, her mother’s oddness and the fact that she’s dating the father of the only boy in school who pays any attention to Moondance, it’s easy to see why Moondance fled to a horse for company. The movie’s only real weakness is a plodding script at the beginning of the film that challenges viewers to stay with the story. But once Johnson and Panabaker begin interacting, the film picks up speed. By the time Moondance and Checkers are prepared to enter the Bow River Classic, a jumping competition, the story is really moving along. Moondance finds herself in competition with her catty classmates and Dante rediscovers himself as a riding instructor, making almost as profound a transformation as does Checkers. "Moondance Alexander" is a relief from endless "reality television," violence, soap operas, and movies about young people engaged in adult relationships. Gelsey may be a bit odd, but she’s not the stupid mother portrayed so often in films and on television. With Moondance in the lead, Damien makes a believable transformation, and hope wins out.
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