Dream Horse review: Cinemas are open, so the feel-good Brit comedy is back

What Euros Lyn’s film lacks in originality, it makes up for in the sheer force of its sincerity

Dir: Euros Lyn. Starring: Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson. Cert PG, 142 mins

The reopening of cinemas, on the brink of summer, necessitates the return of a certain brand of feel-good Brit comedy. In the tradition of The Full Monty (1997) and The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain (1995), these stories see communities restored and united by some communal passion, be it striptease or cartography. They boost the box office and inject cheer into the ever-gloomy British Isles, before inevitably ending up on the DVD shelf of every Airbnb in existence.

Dream Horse fits this bill so perfectly, it’s almost Machiavellian. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in the sheer force of its sincerity. Like so many of its type, the film takes inspiration from a heartwarming true story: in 2001, the small Welsh village of Cefn Fforest saw a plucky group of locals band together in order to breed and raise a foal they named “Dream Alliance”, each chipping in around £10 a week. Eventually, the horse was able to race on the courses of Aintree and Newbury, winning several prizes along the way. The story is well known enough that it’s already been the subject of a documentary, Dark Horse – which won the Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.