In FLICKA, a contemporary motion
picture adaptation of Mary O’Hara’s beloved novel My Friend
Flicka, 16-year-old Katy McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) dreams of
fulfilling her family legacy by working on her father’s ranch
in modern-day Wyoming. But Katy’s father (Tim McGraw) wants
more for her, insisting that Katy go to college. Katy finds a
wild mustang, which she names Flicka, and sets out to make her a
riding horse. But Flicka and Katy are more alike than she could
have imagined. Like Katy, Flicka has a disdain for authority and
is not about to give up her freedom without a fight.
The principal character in the book and in its two motion
picture incarnations was an adolescent boy. But this new version
tells the story through the eyes of headstrong Katy McLaughlin.
Katy is enrolled in a private school on the outskirts of
Laramie, Wyoming, but her heart is with her sprawling family
ranch in the state’s remote mountain region. Katy returns home
to the ranch, and soon becomes enamored of a wild mustang filly
she finds in the mountain woods. She names the long-legged,
ebony horse Flicka, or “beautiful young girl,” in Swedish.
But Katy’s rancher father, the equally-willful Rob, sees
nothing but trouble coming from the untamed animal and
discourages his daughter from keeping her. Nonetheless,
conflicted by a need to harness her own wild ways yet stay true
to a free spirit within, Katy sets out to break through to
Flicka and transform her into a riding horse.
Despite her father’s disapproval, Katy goes on and forms an
unbreakable bond with the wild horse. Her relationship with
Flicka becomes a catalyst for change for the entire McLaughlin
family, which is at a major crossroads: Katy’s dad is
considering selling the ailing ranch, brother Howard (RYAN
KWANTEN) wants to leave Wyoming for college in Boston, and her
mother Nell (MARIA BELLO) is fighting to keep her family from
falling apart.
Can Katy ultimately tame her beloved Flicka and prove everyone
wrong about the wild-hearted mustang? Will Rob find a way to
support his daughter yet still keep her safe through this
momentous life passage? And can the McLaughlins hold onto the
ranch that they’ve worked so hard to maintain throughout a sea
of social and economic change?
TM and ©2006 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.
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