Hidalgo (2004)
Directed by Joe Johnston
Set in 1890, this is the story of a Pony Express courier who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous race for a massive contest prize, in an adventure that sends the pair around the world...
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What critics compared Hidalgo to
When offered a shot at the Ocean of Fire, Frank is too drunk to care, but Annie Oakley (Elizabeth Berridge, "Amadeus") starts a collection towards his entry fee that spurs him on.
Instead of dialing down or somehow complicating Captain America’s fervid patriotism, Johnston and company actually accentuate the character’s old-fashioned decency and resilience while also amping up the nostalgia factor via the film’s sepia tones and digital Brooklyn backdrops that effectively evoke Golden Age movie memories (the cinematography is by Shelly Johnson, who previously worked with Johnston on The Wolf Man, Hidalgo, and Jurassic Park III).
(He didn’t do anything so crafty with his The Wolfman last year, but his Hidalgo was similarly satisfyingly pulp-fantastic.)
His directorial career is mostly made up of lightweight, well-paced juvenile movies like The Rocketeer and Hidalgo, and he's a good candidate for a superhero movie like this.
He has a dartboard of directorial credits including “Hidalgo,” “Jurassic Park III,” “Jumanji,” “The Rocketeer” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”.
Director Joe Johnston, who began his career in special effects and production design before directing crowd-pleasing films such as Jumanji (1995), Jurassic Park III (2001), and Hidalgo (2005), is more than happy to get his gore on, and The Wolfman is replete with the kinds of beheadings, disembowelments, and dismemberment that could only be suggested back in the heyday of the classical era.
Director Joe Johnston (2004's " Hidalgo ") has the look of the picture down pat, full of late-19th century views of England, atmospheric landscapes both rural and urban, and a pall of overcast doom weighing down on the characters, but he exudes no passion for the project otherwise.
Just before principal photography, Romanek was replaced by Texan Joe Johnston, who directed Hidalgo (2004) and Jurassic Park III (2001).
This long delayed production, adapted from Curt Siodmak's original 1941 screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker ("Se7en," "Sleepy Hollow") and David Self ("Thirteen Days," "Road to Perdition") and directed by Joe Johnston ("October Sky," "Hidalgo"), turns out to be a surprisingly effective update that respects the gothic tradition yet jolts with restrained gore and surrealistic drug-induced nightmares.