Melissa Mathison

On his ninth birthday, Omri receives an old cupboard from his brother Gillon (Vincent Kartheiser) and a little Native American "Indian" figure made of plastic from his best friend Patrick (Rishi Bhat). That night, Omri goes through his mom's box of old keys and finds that a gold-colored key with a red ribbon tied to it (given to his mother by her grandmother) actually fits the keyhole of his cupboard. He then looks for an object to lock in the cupboard and settles for the Indian figurine. The next morning, he hears a small tapping noise coming from the cupboard. Omri opens the cupboard and finds a small living person hiding in the corner. It is actually the Indian figure who has magically come to life in human form. Frightened by his large acquaintance, the Indian pulls out a dagger and points it at Omri. Shortly afterward, Omri's father comes in the room to help Omri get ready for school, forcing Omri to lock the cupboard and keep the Indian a secret. When Omri arrives home from school, he is upset to discover that the Indian has returned to its original toy form. When he goes to bed, Omri once more hears the tapping noise he heard that morning. He opens the cupboard to find the Indian alive once more. The Indian is again initially frightened of Omri but warms up to him, thinking Omri is a great spirit in a child's form, as the two begin talking, slowly forming a friendship. The Indian reveals himself as an English-speaking, 18th-century Iroquois Indian named Little Bear (Litefoot) who was fighting in the French and Indian War on the side of the British. During Little Bear's stay with Omri, Omri learns a lot about the Iroquois. Omri also learns that Little Bear is a widower. Then Omri takes Little Bear outside, but Little Bear gets hurt by a pigeon, forcing Omri to bring to life his brother's First World War British Army medic named Tommy Atkins (Steve Coogan) to treat Little Bear's wound. After Omri gives Little Bear tools, sticks and some paper, Little Bear crafts a longhouse and eagerly talks of hunting and sharing stories with Omri over a fire, as he does with his own people. Omri decides to surprise Little Bear with another Indian figure (resembling a Chieftain), saying Little Bear can have the Chieftain's longbow. Little Bear watches in excitement as Omri brings the figure to life. However, before Omri can send the Chieftain back, he suffers a heart attack out of fear. Omri is frightened as he has never seen someone die. Little Bear is confused as to why a spirit would be frightened at the sight of death, coming to the realization that Omri really is a child. Little Bear tells Omri to send the man back, but Omri is reluctant, worried that no one will find his body if he was alone when Omri summoned him. Little Bear yells at Omri, saying that he, Little Bear, had been guiding his nephew through the woods to teach him how to be a man when Omri had taken him away and that Omri shouldn't tamper with magic he doesn't even understand. This upsets Omri. Omri locks the dead Chieftain in the cupboard, making him plastic once more, before leaving the angry Little Bear to answer his dad calling him downstairs. Omri's dad is upset when, after asking Omri where his saw blades went, Omri tells him that he buried them and can't remember where (Omri lied to protect Little Bear's existence). Omri's dad forgives him, saying he can just buy another set. Due to a combination of guilt and wanting to prove his maturity, Omri volunteers to go buy the new set of blades on his own. While Omri goes to the store, Little Bear is preparing the Chieftain's body, presumably still in its plastic form, for burial. As Omri leaves the hardware store, another slightly older kid knocks him into a wall and roughs him up, stealing the change Omri had left. Visibly shaken from the incident, Omri suddenly runs into Patrick, who has a plastic cowboy on a horse to go with the Indian. Patrick's mother is nearby. She notices that Omri is upset, so she and Patrick take Omri home. Eventually, Omri reveals his secret to Patrick. However, after they find Little Bear, who had been hiding from Omri's older brothers, Little Bear begs Omri to send him home. Ignoring Omri's protests, Patrick brings to life a cowboy from 1879 called "Boohoo" Boone (David Keith). Boone and Little Bear are initially hostile toward one another, but are forced to behave themselves when Omri reluctantly accepts Patrick's request to bring them to school. Their cover is nearly blown when Patrick almost shows Boone and Little Bear (now friends) to some classmates, and he and Omri began arguing in the hallway. When Patrick childishly asserts that he could reveal the men and Omri would be powerless to stop him, Omri drives home the point that the time travelers are not living toys that exist for their amusement, but people just like them. As the truth sinks in for Patrick, one of their teachers tries to mediate, and when he realizes that an object in Patrick's fanny pack is the subject of contention, orders him to open it and show him. Boone and Little Bear pretend to be plastic toys thanks to Omri's hints and laying woodenly in Patrick's hand, successfully fool the teacher. Back home, Omri shows a female Indian figure to Little Bear, which he intends to bring to life to give Little Bear a new wife. Just as he is about to lock the figure in the cupboard, he and Patrick (who is spending the night) are puzzled to find the cupboard is missing. Omri's brother confesses he hid the cupboard in the downstairs crawlspace as means of getting back at Omri for hiding the ball his brother keeps his pet rat in. When Omri retrieves the cupboard, he discovers that the key is gone. That night, Omri and Patrick, along with Little Bear and Boone, watch a program on TV that shows a relentless slaughter of Indians by cowboys. Boone is enthusiastic at the sight of his "boys" killing the helpless Indians, while Little Bear watches in horror at the sight of his "people" being massacred. Upon hearing Boone fire his revolver into the air with delight, Little Bear becomes confused and fires an arrow into Boone's chest. Making matters worse, Omri's mother warns that Omri's brother's pet rat has escaped and is hidden somewhere under the wooden floors. Later that night, Omri and Patrick find the key jammed between two floor boards and accidentally push it down out of sight while trying to retrieve it. Little Bear goes under the floor and manages to return the key to Omri just before he is nearly killed by the pet rat. With the key back, Omri brings Tommy Atkins back to life, so he can treat Boone's wounds. While the still unconscious cowboy is being examined, Omri realizes it is time to return Little Bear and Boone to their respective time periods where they belong. Shortly after Omri sends Tommy Atkins back to his own time, Boone awakens and forgives Little Bear. Later that night, as Patrick sleeps, Omri goes to bring the female Indian to life, but Little Bear realizes what Omri is doing, and stops him. Omri says he doesn't want Little Bear to be alone when he goes back, but Little Bear says that the Indian woman probably has people of her own, maybe even her own family, and forcing her to be with Little Bear would sadden her and in turn, sadden him. Omri agrees not to bring her to life. The next morning, Omri and Patrick say their goodbyes to their little friends before locking them back in the cupboard and sending them home. Just before saying goodbye, Omri has a vision of a life-sized Little Bear telling him that when he returns to his own time, he will take Omri on as his nephew. The film ends with Omri at school reading a journal entry where he assures everyone that although he will never know where or how Little Bear may be, he does not worry about him anymore.

Director Steven Spielberg`s Academy Award winning movie about the unforgettable journey of a lost alien and the children who befriend him.

In the summer of 1946, Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) is travelling by steamer off the coast of North Africa. Alec is also a lonely boy. Onboard the streamer, he sees a wild colored stallion (Cass-Ole) being forced into a makeshift stable and heavily restrained by ropes leading to his halter. The stallion resists fiercely to protect its freedom, but eventually submits to the trauma of the whiplashes. Captivated by the horse, Alec later sneaks to the horse to feed him some sugar cubes. The stallion eats the cubes, but still would not allow any human to get close to him. Alec is caught by the horse's owner, who tells him in Arabic to stay away from Shetan and shoves the boy away. Later in his bunk, Alec's father (Hoyt Axton) shows Alec his winnings from a card game and gives him a pocketknife and a small statue of Bucephalus and tells the story of how Alexander the Great became Bucephalus' master. Bucephalus was a magic horse, so wild that King Phillip couldn't tame him. So, he decided to kill it publicly in a huge arena. In the arena, a young boy claims he can ride that horse and does so. King Phillip gives him the horse for keeps. The boy was young Alexander. Later that night, the carving is illuminated with a bright orange light. The ship pitches violently and Alec is thrown from his bunk onto the cabin floor. Grabbing the carving & his pocketknife, Alec gets to his feet and his dad throws a life jacket over him. Alec's dad sees water pouring in through a door, and they make their way onto the deck. As Alec looks up he sees the superstructure of the ship blazing with fire. The ship had caught fire and begun to sink. In the chaos, Alec grabs his knife and makes his way to the stallion and manages to free him. Alec is attacked again by the horse's owner who cuts the life jacket from Alec's body with a knife for his own use. Seeing this, Alec's dad leaps onto the man from the upper deck & throws him against the rail. The stallion then jumps into the sea. Alec himself is thrown overboard by the waves. In the water, he swims toward the stallion. The Stallion had its head above the water, and its ropes caught in the propeller. Alec swims over & cuts the rope, freeing the stallion Alec manages to grab hold of the ropes of the stallion's restraints just as the ship explodes, rendering him unconscious. Only Alec and the Stallion survived. Alec wakes on the shore of a deserted island (with his Bucephalus figurine and the pocketknife) and starts to explore. Finding a cave, he makes a fire and starts catching fish. He eventually discovers he is not alone as the horse had also survived and was trapped with its ropes caught on some rocks. At first the frightened animal is wary of Alec, but he gets close enough to cut the ropes and free the horse, which shakes off the ropes & flees. Alec follows the horse's tracks, but they vanish in the sand. For a time, the two keep their distance. Alec discovers means to survive by catching fish (with his hunting knife, fashioned into a spear) and seaweed. As Alec suddenly faces a cobra eye to eye. Alec, frozen with fear, tries to back away, but the snake hisses more aggressively. The stallion comes to the rescue and kills the snake with its hooves, only to run off again. By now, Alec decides to try to get closer to the horse and offer him some seaweed. The hungry stallion finds himself unable to resist, but visibly struggles with his distrust for humans. Eventually, the hunger wins, and he takes Alec's offer; their bond has been sealed and the two are now inseparable. Together, they enjoy the pristine beauty of the island. Alec even manages to ride the unbroken horse, after many times falling off the horse. One day, a fishing ship arrives, rescuing both Alec and the stallion (the sailors take Alec forcibly and the horse follows him through the water). Alec refuses to leave without his beloved animal, and the horse refuses to let Alec go. The men on the rescue boat tether the horse and help the animal to a larger ship, and Alec & the horse are on their way home to America. Back home in America, Alec is given a hero's welcome. Alec's mother is enormously relieved her son is alive but also grieving the loss of her husband and expresses her thanks to the stallion for saving his life. The stallion has a temporary home in Alec's back yard. A garbage man not knowing that there is a wild horse in the back yard is chased by the stallion (who was scared looking at the hat on the head of the garbage man, which looked very much alike to the headgear worn by the stallion Arab master), who races off down the street after being spooked by a passing car. Alec chases after him through every part of town but loses track of him. The next day, Alec meets Snoe (Clarence Muse) (and his horse Napoleon) who tell him where the stallion is. Alec finds the stallion in the barn of Henry Dailey (Mickey Rooney), a retired racehorse jockey, who apparently spent all night catching the stallion. Alec arranges for the stallion to stay at the barn in exchange for cleaning his stables. One day Alec finds all of Henry's trophies and convinces him to train the stallion and him. Henry is not entirely on-board as the stallion is a desert horse and has no US papers. The two of them, along with the stallion, undergo frequent, rigorous training in riding and saddling a horse. At first the stallion is reluctant to allow a saddle but eventually becomes used to it, and soon Alec & the stallion are making runs on a racetrack. When Alec wonders how fast the stallion is, Alec and Henry decide to train the stallion for the racetrack, while Henry teaches Alec how to be a jockey. The stallion surprises Henry with his speed. Henry maintains complete secrecy around the stallion even when on training runs around the racetrack. Henry immediately starts plotting a plan to get the stallion into the match race between the country's current two champions, which is set on a few months out. To do that, he sets up a secret demonstration at night where the press led by Jim Neville (Michael Higgins) can witness his speed (it was pelting down and with a strong headwind), keeping the identity of Alec and the stallion secret. Soon, promotions about the upcoming challenge are sprouting up everywhere, and even Alec's mother takes notice. The news spreads about the mystery horse and the stallion is entered into the race. However, Alec's mother (Teri Garr) disapproves of this, fearing that her son would be taking a huge risk as a jockey. She fears the worst after losing her husband. After talking with Henry and Alec again, though, Alec reveals the carving of Bucephalus and how he got it - and when. His mother relents & allows Alec to ride the stallion in the challenge. The race is the most anticipated horse-racing event of the year. Before the two champions and the stallion enter the starting gate, the stallion gets into a fight with one of his opponents, wounding his leg. Alec does not see the wound until he is in the gate. As he dismounts, the bell rings and the horses take off. Alec desperately tries to stay on his horse and trying to stop him. He falls behind, but the stallion won't stop. When Alec regains his balance, the stallion is well on his way to catch up with his opponents. Alec now encourages the stallion to run as fast as he can, remembering the wild rides on the island, as they catch up. The stallion eventually wins by two lengths.