Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. This film was animated very well. The blending of 2D and 3D look spectacular. Spirit however does have it's moments of embellishment to the extreme.Spirit is a wild and carefree mustang who lives free on the plains with his family. One day he discovers something new that has come upon his homeland. He leaves, despite the warnings of his mother, to solve the mystery. He winds up in a camping site of strange two-legs. The humans find him amazing and go after and eventually capture him. Leading him into unknown waters. No worries, always a happy ending of course.Some of the biggest complaints I have with this film is the background art. While at times the scenes with the 2D painted sky and the 3D blades of grass are gorgeous, the backgrounds keep changing throughout the film. There's really no good explanation of timeframe in this movie. When it begins, it's spring. When Spirit is mature, it's presumably a year or so later. Later on the backgrounds stay nearly the same or change completely. Continuity is important people. At one point it snows heavily, then the next morning the land is completely free of powder. Makes no sense. And of course you have your moments of suspension of disbelief. Believe me it's hard to ignore it in this movie, but you have to because it's still a decent film. Some viewers have said it reeks of Political Correctness, and I agree to that to a certain extent. Again, it doesn't defect me away from the story itself.The film itself has a good enough story. I honestly wish they hadn't used a narrator to voice Spirit's thoughts. But it is what it is. If you can get past the occasional Bryan Adams song that pops up here and there, believe me, most of them are forgettable. I actually love, "Sound The Bugle:" and "Brother Under The Sun", which the latter unfortunately wasn't used. Most all the songs were just bland. You at least get to care about the characters. Spirit falls for a Paint mare named Rain. All well and good, but nothing as touching or emotional as the parting of ways with the Lakota, Little Creek near the end of the movie.Not the greatest animated film ever, but certainly worth your time.

I don't understand the bad critics you can read in this page, I respect them but I don't understand it. They criticize the movie for being bad propaganda. Well maybe it is (I don't think so) but for me it was one of the finest animations movies I have seen. I remember watching it when I was young and a few months ago I rediscover this magnificent movie and I loved it again. It tells the story of a young horse who is captured and taken away from his homeland to a military fort where he meets a Indian called Little Creek, who will help him to get away from the cavalry and the military forces. The story is not very complicated but is very beautiful. You can give a heart to an animated character without it needing to talk (horses usually don't talk neither they sing). The animation is very well done with a mix of 2D and 3D animations that recreate some of the most beautiful landscapes of the West, but also some of the darkest ones.In the voice roles we had Matt Damon as a narrator for the story, Daniel Studi as Little Creek and James Cromwell as The Colonel. Well, there isn't much dialogue but the small phrases they had were very well dubbed. Their voices helped the animation to give each character true emotions.And the other great thing is the soundtrack. Bryan Adams here sings several songs which have a background message about our home, to discover who we are and about freedom. And also a very special mention to the score crafted by Hans Zimmer in a way that only he's able to do. Giving the images a soul.This movie is one of the best examples of serious animation for more grown people but the little kids will surely enjoy it too a lot. Don't miss this one!

Did you know horse could wink, giggle and play pranks? These Cimarrons can! Truly the best part of this movie is the sound track. Apart from that, it is the single focus of the story line that doesn't stray and become unnecessarily complicated. Spirited wild horse, symbolic of everything America is doing its best to destroy, can't be tamed corralled. No nasty white man is going to starve, beat or chase this wild nature from him. Wild horse is saved with the help of He-who-understands-nature, Little Creek. Little Creek, a Navajo or Cree, is our buff Indigenous person whose run from the nasty U.S. Cavalry happens to be aboard said wild stallion. The depend on each other to escape through various daring triumphs. All is good, with an artful depiction of the events and scenery that is expressive and also quaintly anachronistic in style. Nevertheless, Matt Damon's narration is so flat it sometimes sounds silly in the background. While the horses can't talk, they do everything else such as wink, nod, giggle and neigh as required. It is certainly deeper and less contrived than many adventure animations, but the way the horses are given human characteristics and reactions is very traditional. It is always nice to see how stud gets his mare. Shouldn't it always be that way?

I feel like part of the reason why DreamWorks's Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron works so well (Ebert noted this in his excellent review) is the fact that none of the animals talk. Although the titular horse is given internal narration by Matt Damon (of all people), not once does Spirit, or any other creature ever speak themselves. This allows for more time spent on music, visuals and storytelling free from banter or exposition. When you have a movie with such sweeping scope and majestic beauty, it's nice to just relax and let it wash over you, almost like a music video. I'll always love 2D animation, and here its done exquisitely, the wild frontier rendered in richly colored strokes, the horses vividly brought to life through the illustrations. It's one of the last classic 2D outings, before the eventual switch to computer generated stuff. Don't get me wrong I'm just as in love with 3D animation, but I will always have deep nostalgic pangs for this style as well. Someone once told me that cinema is the only art form in which every single artistic medium you can think of can all inhabit the same space, interacting and complimenting each other to create a symphony for all the senses and perceptions. Spirit is a shining example: exceptional drawing and animation, terrific voice acting, and the music, which is a standout. Both the stirring score by Hans Zimmer and the original songs by Bryan Adams are heartfelt compositions which soar along with the visuals in perfect harmony. Spirit is a wild young mustang, who is captured by a vicious Colonel, gruffy baritoned by James Cromwell. He tries to train the horse and break him, but Spirit has that wild spark of vitality that any protagonist of the animal kingdom must possess. He refuses to give in, never losing hope of one day returning to his herd. He is befriended by young native man Little Creek (Daniel Studi) who is also searching for home. The two form an adventurous bond, putting them against man and nature to return to their origins. Mountains, valleys, corals, trees and the untamed northwest wilderness are all presented in a fashion so gorgeous that the colors nearly pop off the screen. It's just terrific entertainment through and through, never too silly, sappy or frightening, hitting all the right notes along the whole breadth of its breezy 80 minute runtime. DreamWorks doesn't often give Disney a run for its money, but consider this a glowing exception.