Flicka<$> — Still girlish at 27, Alison Lohman stars as a spirited teen who tames a spirited horse in this paint-by-numbers update of Mary O’Hara’s children’s book My Friend Flicka<$>, previously filmed in 1943. Lohman plays a 16-year-old who adopts a wild mustang that everyone else, including her rancher dad (country singer Tim McGraw), thinks is too fierce and crazy to be tamed. Director Michael Mayer presents some gorgeous Western vistas, but the dull dialogue and predictable action corrals the actors, including the daring Maria Bello in an unusually dry role as Lohman’s mom. Lohman is blandly cute and mischievous, while McGraw is so tightly reined, he’s a dull stone face even when he’s supposed to be playing a testy father. PG for some mild language. 94 minutes. Two stars. — David Germain