Considering the difficulty of getting a teen audience, keeping it, and having a moral and religious message, The Secret of the Horse manages quite well in the midst of a dizzying fray of movies seeking the attention of teens.
It's designed more to be shown by adults to teens, which makes the possibility of entertaining a teen audience even harder--a film that might be rejected by WHO is showing it because it does not directly enter into the teen scene, attempting to lure them to see it on its own terms.
The story of a Vietnamese teenage boy who goes to a new high school and experiences some fairly realistic taunting, but has the ability to lay low those who taunt him, but must not do this because it would affect his sister's future studies as a violinist, gives some food for thought, and although the script doesn't quite make sense (why should the father lose his job if his son gets in trouble?), the fast-action probably keeps most teens from thinking the scenario through, and allows the main-points to still stand. The moral decisions do, in fact, stand alone, and the build to climax is quite well done.
Overall, very good considering the difficulties in getting and maintaining the audience it is designed for.
