STARS TAKE A SWEET STORY AND RUN WITH IT.

Byline: Glen Whipp Film Critic

GIVEN THAT Hasbro relaunched its ``My Little Pony'' line a couple of years ago, parents have every right to approach ``Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story'' with no small amount of caution. Stories about little girls and horses can be a little much for anyone who doesn't have posters of rainbows and unicorns tacked up on their bedroom walls.

Writer-director John Gaitins seems to know this and, thankfully, goes for understatement time and time again in this underdog animal story that comes by its emotions honestly and with few pretensions. It helps that he cast Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning as the movie's central characters. Like he did in ``Miracle,'' Russell finds the heart of a character that could have been a cliche. And Fanning is Fanning, the best child actor since ... Russell?

There are two father-child stories in ``Dreamer,'' which makes the movie something of a male chick flick, emphasizing the emotional distances that sometimes grow between a dad and his kids. Russell plays Ben Crane, a horse trainer who has seen better days. He resents his father (Kris Kristofferson) for selling off the Kentucky family farm piece by piece. But we see that Ben has committed the bigger sin - he has sold out himself and his relationship with his family.

Enter Sonador, a thoroughbred filly that Ben acquires and his daughter Cale (Fanning) comes to love. Cale's belief in the horse brings her dad back to her. The scenes between Fanning and Russell are wonderful; the two have an easy, relaxed chemistry that works whether the scene requires playful laughter or sorrowful tears.

The family stuff keeps the movie grounded as Sonador's comeback becomes increasingly improbable. As the film's title implies, ``Dreamer'' is based on a real story. (The wordy title was necessitated by the existence of Bernardo Bertolucci's 2003 film, ``The Dreamers,'' though it's hard imagine people confusing that NC-17-rated movie and this horse tale.)

But Gaitins' fiction raises the ante considerably (and, to a degree, unnecessarily), involving a race that transcends bigness and stakes that take it beyond the realm of personal and put it squarely into a matter of survival. Even here, though, it's hard to resist Fanning's big saucer eyes and the sheer conviction she puts forth as she tells all comers that her Sonador ``will beat every horse that shows up.'' I wouldn't bet against her.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

DREAMER: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY - Three stars

(PG: brief mild language)

Starring: Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning.

Director: John Gaitins.

Running time: 1 hr. 38 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning play a father and daughter whose relationship is healed by their love for a horse. Sweet movie with understated performances.

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Cale and Ben Crane (Dakota Fanning and Kurt Russell) rebuild their father-daughter relationship as they rehabilitate an injured thoroughbred filly in ``Dreamer.''