Review of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) by Harry W — 23 Mar 2014

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is one of the better of Dreamworks' earliest animations, and even though it has its issues it proves to be fun animated entertainment.

One of the issues is the thin nature of the story. As it relies solely on the journey of a horse tentatively titled Spirit as he journeys through the land and deals with all the hard labours of life as a horse in a society dominated by corrupt American soldiers, it doesn't have too much that it can do. It can't boast much of a voice cast or much of a script because aside from a few of the protagonist's thoughts which are projected to the audience through narration from Matt Damon, there isn't much to say. And so in some scenes there is just a bit of waiting around with nothing interesting being said or happening on screen. So the entertainment value within the thin plot is somewhat scattered over the course of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, but that's pretty much expected because of the limitations. Instead of holding itself down with childish comedic characters, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron at least respects its viewers enough not to hold itself back with childish supporting characters, but I will say that it feels like a rather slow venture for an animated film and that it follows a predictable path which doesn't touch upon as much as it should considering how many plot elements it introduces,.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a very serious animated film and doesn't have the comedic touch you might hope, so varying from viewer to viewer this could either be beneficial or unfortunate. Admittedly, I hoped for some laughs along the way but by the end of the feature I was happy to walk away from the experience having seen a sophisticated and strongly dramatic animated feature.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron has a lot of strength to it. As a story dealing with a determined horse facing adversity in the 19th century wild west, it has a lot of childish appeal because of how it chronicles an animal changing the world for his species and for the people treated as inferior, the Native Americans. It's a hard thing for a film without much dialogue that bases its story solely on following a horse around for so long to succeed as entertaining, but Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron proves itself successful in achieving such a feat.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron has nearly no dialogue to it and a simple story to it, but it tells it through the appropriate means for a good animated film.

In terms of storytelling elements, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron harnesses the dramatic nature of its story without degrading it into being a childish comedy. It's one of the few animated films of modern day to really deal with a mature issue without dancing around it, and so from there it starts out as a tale of animals in nature and explores the conflict of the animal kingdom facing the drama of the frontier, so Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron can appeal to wide crowds as both an animated feature depicting the heroic journey of a horse as well as a western. I've never before seen an animated western, but Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron surprised me because of its depiction of a horse with the values of a cowboy and the stoicism of such a character, especially since as a horse he has an inability to talk.

But its greatest appealing element is that the quality of the animation in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is beautiful. The animation follows a very traditional style and combines it with elements of three dimensional animation, making the experience a very exhilarating and colourful one. Every inch of detail in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is excellent and the colourful scenery looks excellent. The angles that it takes in are also very reminiscent of classical western style cinematography, making the mood of the experience feel all the more legitimate.

An animated western is a very fresh concept which I haven't seen touched upon before Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and although it is a slowly paced feature it benefits from intelligently written drama and impeccable animation within the frame of some very stylish animation, so it's a real treat overall.