With an original and unique idea, but very little follow through, Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron sadly ends up being a waste of potential. Early Dreamworks Animation is something a lot of people don't talk about, especially when it comes to films like Spirit. Most younger audiences today will have no recognition of the film and even for those it was made for in its time, it never quite managed to pick up the audience that films like Shrek, Madagascar, or even Shark Tale did around the same time. Spirit mirrors Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas as yet another forgettable Dreamworks movie, not necessarily bad but largely forgotten. I really wanted to like this movie, I tried very hard to do so. To be fair, there are a lot of elements I did like- the animation is gorgeous, the relationship between Spirit and Little Creek was very well done, and the score was pretty solid. On the flip side of things though, there is sadly far more to complain about. I love the premise for a film like this being that we have main characters who don't talk, but the narration of the character story just feels so intrusive of that premise, and incredibly awkward and corny to say the least. Speaking of corny, let's talk about the horrible original songs from Bryan Adams, because oh my god do they take you out of the film and into the sad and lonely basement of a middle aged dad. What were they thinking with those songs? They aren't even fun to listen to ironically. The pacing for the film is also pretty scattered, it does manage to have some interesting moments, and I like how honest and vulnerable it is showing the abuse and mistreatment of animals at this time- especially from all the old west folks, but nearly every one of those scenes ends up in a forced action sequence which is as corny as you could expect. I don't know, I like the central ideas of this film, but like its pacing, the movie just feels all over the place. You can tell they put their heart into it, but given the ideas at hand, I feel it would have been much better executed if ii were reshaped and reformatted a little bit. Instead, this feels more like a first draft. In the end, Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron never overcomes its mediocrity enough to stand out even after its failed initial start and sadly becomes yet another mostly forgettable animated blunder from the early 2000's.
My Rating: 4.4/10.
My Rating: 4.4/10.