WFG RATING: A

Vision Films presents a Bashon Brook Entertainment/Miller Films production. Directed by Nick Pinelli. Produced by Jeff Brody. Written by Don Miller and Nick Pinelli; based on characters created by Miller, Nathan Carliner Goldman, and Robert Jauregui. Cinematography by Matthew Henaghan. Edited by Kimberley Furst.

Stars Alexis Arnold, Eva Igo, Tom Vera, Amanda Williams Pfeiffer, Ethan Rhoad, Ashton Dunford, Ursula Boutwell, Jeff Brody, Jeff Kavy, Donnie Miller, and Liz Guaraldi.

Jodie and Bridgett are back but change slowly becomes too much for them in this sequel to the 2022 family film.

A year has passed since Bridgett Van Heusen suffered an injury and her career as an equestrian was finished. However, she had helped the once disabled Jodie Davis win her first competition. Since then, Bridgett had attended college, but things have become very stressful for both of them. Bridgett still holds a grudge about her career ending but receives worse news involving her family.  Jodie is now feeling the pressure of neglect from her mother due to her new relationship.

However, amidst the turmoil, Jodie meets David, a blind teen who is caring for a horse named Starfire. As for Bridget, she meets Dylan, who works at a local food joint for the summer. Meanwhile, tensions soon mount between the two friends, and it is up to Jimmy, Bridget’s former and Jodie’s current trainer, to help the girls bounce back and find the bond they once had a year ago to overcome their issues.

Two years ago, the film If I Could Ride was such a heartwarming tale about an unlikely friendship and dream that had a lot of heart and emotion. Never would I imagine there would be a sequel and yet here it is. Like its predecessor, the film shows a lot of heart and emotion as we see the struggles our protagonists have to endure in the year (where the film is set) since we last saw them.

Alexis Arnold and Eva Igo reprise their roles, and it is like they picked up right there they left off. However, there are no signs of Jodie’s disability from the first film has taken a back seat to what has happened. She has become a new champion and in some ways, we see that it eats Bridgett alive because of her injury that ended her career. For Bridgett though, she gets more of the short straw. From a painkiller addiction to her parents at risk of looking their home due to a swindler, Bridgett just doesn’t have it easy.

There are moments where we see the two do find happiness. For Jodie, it is befriending a blind boy, David,R who needs help with a horse named Starfire. As for Bridgett, she meets a genius kid in Dylan, who upon learning what Bridgett is going through finds out something that triggers his own past and wants to be there for her. Eventually, it will take both Jodie and Bridgett as both individuals and as friends to overcome their issues. While the first film is more focused on the competitive aspect of working at a horse ranch, this is more of a focus on the characters themselves.

Like the original too, a major subplot focuses on horse trailer Jimmy, once again played by Tom Vera. Where the first film sees him struggle with the death of his wife and daughter, we see him attempting to move on when he gets a crush on David’s mother Rebecca, played by Amanda Williams Pfeiffer. However, things are complicated when he meets the woman responsible for the loss of his wife and daughter, causing a sense of turmoil within himself.

Once again, the film delivers on focusing on various real-life issues and somehow brings it all together by the film’s end. That’s why If I Could Ride Again is just as good as its previous film.

The film will be released on VOD on July 8.