January 14, 2005 | Call it Babe-licious, and you won't be far off the mark. Much like the beloved fable about the precocious pig who becomes a master shepherd, Racing Stripes is a feel-good, family-friendly movie that offers an impressive mix of human actors and CGI-tweaked animals. To be sure, the humor is much broader, and occasionally cruder, in this comedy about a plucky zebra who beats the odds while competing against thoroughbreds. Overall, though, Racing Stripes is frisky and funny enough to please pre-teens - and, better still, sufficiently witty to amuse their parents.

Working from a script by David F. Schmidt, director Frederik Du Chau begins to spin his story on a rural Kentucky back road, when former horse trainer Nolan Walsh (Bruce Greenwood) finds a baby zebra accidentally abandoned by a traveling circus. He brings the four-legged foundling back home to his farm, fully intending to turn him over to authorities. But Channing (Hayden Panettiere), Nolan's young daughter, has other ideas: She names the spindly foal Stripes, and begs for the chance to raise the little critter as a pet. Nolan reluctantly agrees.

Readily accepted by other barnyard residents, Stripes (persuasively voiced by Frankie Muniz of TV's Malcolm in the Middle) comes of age among such colorful characters as Tucker (Dustin Hoffman), a cranky Shetland Pony; Franny (Whoopi Goldberg), a sage goat; Reggie (Jeff Foxworthy), a dim-bulb rooster; Lightning (Snoop Dog), an inaptly named lazy-bones dog; and Buzz (Steve Harvey) and Scuzz (David Spade), smart-alecky horseflies with a rather unfortunate fondness for pop jokes.

But even as he enjoys the company of his newfound friends, Stripes is drawn to the racetrack at a neighboring estate run by snooty horse breeder Clara Dalrymple (Wendie Malick). The more he sees highly skilled thoroughbreds preparing for racing glory, the more Stripes yearns to run for the roses himself.

Woodzie (M. Emmet Walsh), a grizzled racetrack tout, thinks Stripes has the right stuff for racing, and encourages Nolan to train the zebra for the upcoming Kentucky Open. But Nolan demurs: He walked away from racing after the death of his wife in a riding accident years ago, and he's still reluctant to resume his former trade. Not surprisingly, he's even less willing to allow Channing to train as a jockey. In the end, though, Channing gets a chance to ride Stripes in the Kentucky Open - with a little help from Tucker, an unsung hero when it comes to tutoring thoroughbreds.

Cleverly balancing heart-tugging sentiment with rib-tickling silliness, Racing Stripes does a bang-up job of enabling moviegoers to suspend disbelief as various quadrupeds and winged insects converse amongst themselves. (Only the horseflies are completely computer-generated; other creatures are real beasts enhanced with animated lip-movements.) Among the vocal talents, Hoffman makes the most engaging impression as the perpetually grumpy and under-appreciated Tucker. But Joe Pantoliano gets some of the biggest laughs as Goose, a bellicose pelican from New Jersey who claims to be hiding from vengeful Mafiosi. (Members of the Soprano clan, maybe?) Parents in the audience likely will guffaw even louder than their children whenever the tough-talking bird snarls dialogue lifted from classic mobster movies. ("Just when I thought I was out," Goose complains at one point, "they pull me back in!")

With so many scene-stealing co-stars competing for attention, the human players deserve credit simply for not being entirely upstaged. Greenwood and Panettiere come across with appealing sincerity, while Walsh is appropriately rumpled and crusty. Malick slyly stops short of going completely over the top, and even manages to spike her cartoonish villainy with a hint of saucy hauteur that recalls the late, great Rosalind Russell. Nice work.