This movie is about horses. Do you like horses? Yes? Good. You will like this movie. No? You probably won't like this movie.

 

But on a serious note, 'Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron' has many more flaws than what it's about. Horse movies can be good movies, whether you like the animals or not. Sadly, 'Spirit' is not a good horse movie; it's not sure what it wants to be. Is it a western? A documentary?

 

Because why bother making the horse speak horse language, when you give it voice-over exposition by Matt Damon. Is that what Matt Damon sounds like when he neighs?

 

I don't think so. First-person narration can be used effectively in animated movies, a la Ratatouille, but there is so much of it here, they might as well have anthropomorphised the horses.

 

Next issue: the plot and pacing seems all over the place. One minute, we're in act 1, wondering if we're ever going to care about this damn horse, and next minute it's act 3 and he's running away from an exploding train. And we still don't care about Matt Da-mane. Where did the middle go?

 

Fortunately, this makes it feel like a short film, so you don't need to be subjected to torture for very long. As Dreamworks penultimate traditionally animated feature, the animation is fine but not outstanding, though the range of facial expression they can give a horse seems fairly limited (is this surprising?) The human characters are also poorly developed. Given the Native American one plays an important role in the plot, you'd think he'd have more than one dimension to him.

 

An ounce of praise I can offer 'Spirit', is that like Dreamworks other early films, it tries to be different. That is, it doesn't have any of the childish humour that Dreamworks is known for. Ultimately, however, if crafting mature films means crafting them from wood, I'd rather let them have a little childish fun. For proof, you only need to compare this to 'Shrek'; two vastly different films tonally, but only one is enjoyable and engaging.

 

Sorry Dreamworks, but I just didn't feel the 'spirit' of this one.

 

Score: 4/10

Published: June 7th, 2014