I tell you, this movie is great!

I remember going to see the film in the theater. As you say, Viggo was hot at the time because LOTR was not far behind, and the trailers just made it seem like the kind of movie I'd usually go for. I do recall being underwhelmed though and walking out having hoped for a little more.

As both you and HarlemEagle above say, this the kind of old fashioned adventure film that we just don't see much of anymore (which is a damn shame). When these sorts of films are done right--like The Mummy, which you mentioned--they are perhaps my very favorite sort of movie. I just love a good adventure in a bygone era that was full of romance and fun. But there did seem to be something missing from Hidalgo.

It seems that the OP revised his opinion of the film after revisiting it. Maybe I should check it out again.

As promised, I rewatched Hidalgo. So now I can talk about it in a little more educated manner.

First, I will say that I enjoyed it more this time than I did when I saw it in the theater. As I mentioned above, when I saw it in the theater I thought it was a good movie but, like you say, it felt like there was something missing. I think I was hoping for one thing and then got something a little different and it just didn't live up to my expectations. This time I went in with my expectations lowered and I found it a pretty enjoyable watch.

But the question is why does the movie not TOTALLY work?

I think that, first, we need to state that while it is sort of an adventure film, it's not really an adventure film like the Indiana Jones or Mummy films are adventure films. I would actually say that this movie is an underdog sports drama wrapped up in an adventure movie's garb.

Now, let's consider it as an adventure movie. When we look back at films like Indiana Jones or The Mummy or, I will throw into the pile, National Treasure, we have a variety of locations, colorful characters, daring action set pieces, relics of the past, a desirable love interest and, at least in regard to the first two, elements of the supernatural. Hidalgo, on the other hand, takes place almost entirely in the middle of the barren desert with little in the way of globetrotting, there are no ancient mysterious relics, the love interest in the film could only barely be considered such, and while there are a few set pieces, they are small-scale and tame in comparison to what we see in those other franchises. To give it credit though, it does have some likable and interesting characters, but even there the villain is weak.

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Okay, and now let's consider it as an underdog sports drama. We don't have a training montage where the hero is preparing and building himself into an unstoppable machine, as would be typical (and there's a good reason why it's typical, those are crowd-pleasing scenes). Also, the contest itself is not easy to follow. In a boxing match it is easy to follow the action and to have an idea of how things are going and who is winning. Or in a foot race you can easily see who is ahead. But the action in Hidalgo is hard to follow because it doesn't really feel like a "race" until the very end. Before that it just feels like some guys wandering around in the desert without a clear notion of who is winning and who is behind.

The last thing that I will mention is this: The movie comes right out of the gate and hits you with some White Man Bad social commentary and, if you're trying to make a crowd-pleaser, trying to make your audience feel a little guilty for the past is perhaps not the best way to whip up the right vibes.

So those are my criticisms and why I think that the film may feel like something is missing or why it doesn't totally work. But I don't want to come off as overly negative, because like I said, I DID enjoy it while rewatching it and one day I may watch it again. It's a family-friendly adventure-sports-drama that has a likable protagonist and some other enjoyable characters, some cool horse scenes, and for the most part a pleasing tone, and I wish we got more movies like this today.