Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002, DVD)

A while back, a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video in which someone had set clips of the Dreamworks movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron to the tune of John Denver s Eagles and Horses. The glorious animation of a horse joyously racing an eagle fit perfectly with Denver s stirring ode to freedom, and the video reminded me how much I wanted to see the 2002 film.

Spirit finally arrived last week, and I remain impressed by the gorgeous artwork, especially the vast expanses of untouched landscapes of the Old West. It s a beautiful film to look at, and this story of one horse s struggle to retain his freedom in the face of modernization is inspiring. It s also very heavy-handed and solemn, so I find it hard to believe it would have gone over well with too many youngsters. There s little comic relief, little dialogue even, and between traumatic captures, there are stretches of time when not much happens.

Mostly, I think it all works, but more for adults than children, and even as much as I enjoyed the movie and generally agreed with its suggestion that the west might have been better off left untamed, I don t have any great desire to watch it again. Even as it uplifts, it depresses, and all those distressing images of the cruelty of humanity are not much fun to observe.

The film is narrated by Matt Damon, who is the titular horse. His narration is fairly sparing, just enough to give us insight into his feelings and fill in the gaps in his perspective, since we see his journey but don t necessarily understand it all that well. That is because Spirit speaks only as a narrator. Within the action of the movie itself, Spirit s only dialogue is horse-speak, a series of neighs, whickers and other noises with which he communicates with the members of his herd and any other horses he encounters throughout the film. He also uses this form of communication to reach out to Little Creek (Daniel Studi), a Lakota who, like him, is captured by a group of soldiers. The only human Spirit grows to trust, Little Creek understands his sense of majesty and his need for freedom.

The only other characters of real significance are Little Creek s devoted horse, with whom Spirit falls in love, and a sadistic colonel played by James Cromwell, who is a favorite actor of mine but whose voice I didn t recognize until I saw it on the credits. Although the character does get a hint of redemption toward the end of the movie, basically he s a pretty nasty guy. In fact, we re supposed to think that all the white folks are rotten, and there is one scene too many of Spirit being violently captured and restrained by these pale-faced demons on two legs. Yeah, the movie has a political agenda. That s clear. It s dark, and it s often scary.

But it s also beautiful. The scenes in which Spirit begins to trust Little Creek are touching, and the horses thundering across sweeping wind-swept vistas is downright exhilarating. Bryan Adams provides all of the songs in this movie, which serve as backdrops for the action. Most blend in and are nice enough but fairly forgettable; my favorite is the radio-friendly Here I Am, which accompanies scenes of Spirit s colthood and is later reprised. If Denver has still been alive when this movie was made, I think he would have been the perfect choice for this ode to the Old West. Oh-so-western Michael Martin Murphy, too, would have done a fantastic job, but I suppose he doesn t have nearly as much name recognition as Adams.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a story about the coming-of-age of one particular creature as well as a nation. It s a little preachy and unrealistic Spirit makes some enormous leaps that are too much even for my generous suspension of disbelief, and he also manages to bring down the construction of an entire railroad but for what it is, this expertly animated film is worth a look.