FILM: Racing Stripes (PG) Frederik Du Chau ii888

Just as Buzz Lightyear thought he was really an astronaut, so Stripes the zebra thinks he's a thoroughbred racehorse. A stray from the circus, Stripes is adopted by a widowed horse-trainer (Bruce Greenwood) and befriended by a goat and a Shetland pony. That the latter are voiced respectively by Whoopi Goldberg and Dustin Hoffman should tip you the wink: this is school of Babe, where the animals talk to each other and flies whizz around enthusing over "poo".

This being family-led fare, there are mini-homilies on acceptance, courage and self-belief, the basic American dream packaged in a story about, er, a talking zebra.