SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON

Starring the vocal talents of: Matt Damon, James Cromwell and Daniel Studi
Directors: Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook
Running Time: 83 mins
Certificate: U

Born on the plains of North America when the west was wild and untamed. A stallion (Damon) with a spirit for freedom and a strength that could not be broken grew to be the leader of his herd. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he is captured by Yankee settlers and taken to a US army fort to be broken and tamed as the general's horse. His unrelenting desire to return to his herd and his passion for freedom means no rider can break him and with the help of a young Native American called Little Creek (Studi) he makes his bid to escape.

DreamWorks and especially producer and head of animation Jeffery Katzenberg, have tried to reawaken the movie going public's interest in the more traditional 2D animation and with this movie they have succeeded. It seemed that to have an animated hit it had to be computer generated 3D, like Shrek, Toy Story or Monsters Inc but DreamWorks have successfully combined hand drawn animation and computer enhanced effects.

A lot of 2D animated movie have failed, however good they look, because they were missing two key ingredients, a good story and a sense of character. Spirit has more of these elements than Atlantis and Titan A.E. put together. You really get involved with the great stallion's plight and find yourself smiling when he finds love and on the edge of your seat when the evil US Army is chasing him.

The way the story is told is also quite unique as there is hardly any dialogue in the whole movie. Only the human's talk and Spirit's emotions are communicated via gestures and actual horse sounds. Matt Damon provides narration as Spirit thoughts as he remembers his adventure and this works really well. It moves the film away from the usual Disney angle of just making the animals talk and makes the animation more realistic.

Quite surprisingly the movie takes a pop at the colonisation of the west by white settlers. The US Army and the railroad builders are the villains and the Native American's and the wild horses the heroes. Spirit is cast as an eco-warrior is the final thirty minutes of the film as he takes on the spread of so called civilisation into his herd's homeland.

With excitement, laughs and a sense of character that has been missing from many 2D animated films, Spirit is a treat for all the family. Not even Bryan Adams's songs can spoil this very enjoyable film.

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