When John Gatins wrote the screenplay for "Dreamer," he envisioned three generations of Crane men: a grandfather, a father and a young son. Then he watched Dakota Fanning in the revenge thriller "Man on Fire" and decided to change the gender of the child.

Joe Lederer Dakota Fanning earns the trust of an injured racehorse who becomes her companion in "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story." Click photo for larger image. "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story" Rating: PG for brief mild language. Starring: Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning. Director: John Gatins. Post-Gazette Family Film Guide of "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story" "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story" Web site

T he protagonist of "Flightplan" was switched from a father to a mother, and Jodie Foster made that movie tick, just as 11-year-old Fanning does for "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story." The best young actress working today, she brings to Cale Crane a determination, vulnerability and innocent belief that anything really is possible -- not to mention a little touch of a real child, with front teeth that would later be fitted with braces.

The Cranes reside in the heart of Kentucky horse country, and their livelihood depends on horses even though they no longer own any.

Ben Crane (Kurt Russell) works as a horse trainer and shares a farm, but little else, with his dad, a retired horseman called Pop (Kris Kristofferson). Ben's wife (Elisabeth Shue) is a diner waitress, whose wages help to stretch the family income. Pop may be estranged from his son but dotes on his granddaughter, Cale, who basks in the magic and glory of his stories.

Ben unwittingly finds himself without a job and with a hobbled horse named Sonador, or Sonya, when the decision is made to race the filly against his advice and the horse crumples on the track. Sonya breaks her leg and is about to be put down when Ben gets into an argument with his demeaning, racist boss (David Morse, in usual villain mode), who represents the horse's wealthy owner. He fires Ben, who accepts the horse as part of the payment owed him.

When Ben gets Sonya home, Pop dismissively suggests he euthanize the animal. But the Crane family and two men fired with Ben -- an exercise jockey (Freddy Rodriguez) and a groom (Luis Guzman) -- nurse Sonya back to health. They begin to imagine a new life for Sonya, with Cale harboring the grandest, seemingly most impossible dream of all. As Sonya's leg heals, so does the divided Crane family.

Gatins, who directs his own screenplay, gives us peaceful, foggy mornings at the track and sun-dappled grassy fields where Sonya trails after Cale like Lassie. Gatins seems a stronger director than writer, since a thread about a "claiming race" is confusing for the non-horsey set and the Pop-Ben breach isn't fully fleshed out, either. However, he showcases actors who look as if they could share a gene pool or a welcoming dinner table.

The clunky second half of the title comes from the fact that a real-life filly named Mariah's Storm fractured her left front cannon bone in a 1993 race. Her owners and trainers never lost faith that she could recover; her fracture healed, and Mariah's Storm not only raced but won again.

"Dreamer" feels formulaic and farfetched, but in a family-friendly, feel-good way. It's from DreamWorks, not Disney, but it stars one of that studio's former child stars in Russell and a little girl who shows the same sort of wholesome appeal and mature talent. She looks like Russell and acts like him, too.