Review: Horse flick lacks all ‘Spirit’

Geoff Carter

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 10:03 a.m.

"Spirit"

Grade: **

Starring: The voices of Matt Damon, James Cromwell and Daniel Studi.

Screenplay: John Fusco.

Director: Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook.

Rated: G.

Running time: 82 minutes.

Movie times: http://www.vegas.com/movies/

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron," the latest offering from DreamWorks Pictures' animation studio, is the penultimate young girl's picture. It stars animated horses, is narrated by heartthrob Matt Damon, and features a strong male character who loves his mom. If not for Vin Diesel and "The Fast and The Furious," every girl between the ages of 8 and 15 would rally behind "Spirit."

It's only fair, seeing as Hollywood has done little for that demographic these past few years. Young men have had the field largely to themselves, with their human arachnids and attacking clones. Name me one summer film that's been released these past few years that hasn't been immediately preceded by a run on action figures at Wal-Mart. (Even Disney, which has the market cornered on preteen girl cinema, released the very boyish "Atlantis" last year.) "Spirit" turns down the volume and plays up the cuteness; it aspires to be a Wild West retelling of "Bambi."

"It's said that the history of the West was written from the saddle of a horse," Damon narrates, "but this story is told from the heart of one."

Damon provides the thoughts of Spirit (the horses don't speak in this cartoon -- more on that momentarily), a Cimarron stallion that is captured by Union soldiers, befriends a Lakota Indian named Little Creek (voiced by Daniel Studi) and goes adventuring with him. Along the way, he falls for a mare named Rain, does his part to sabotage western expansion, and runs afoul of an unnamed colonel (James Cromwell), who wants to break him -- one way or another.

It would have been an interesting story if told properly -- and it looks positively gorgeous, like a vintage color postcard -- but unfortunately, it's a narrative botch.

Why can't the horses speak to each other, if they can exhibit nearly every other human characteristic and a full range of human emotions? Why is Damon's narration so cloying? ("A braver horse than me would have run away.") And why, oh why, did DreamWorks think that a Greek chorus of songs by Bryan Adams was a sound idea?

Adams' music pretty much wrecks the picture. You can't get into the emotional guts of a scene without Adams trying to tell you what to feel. ("I have to fight/fight with all my might.") And his songs provoke Hans Zimmer into producing an overbearing score -- his cues here could easily fit any of the Jerry Bruckheimer action films he's scored. Together, the two musicians make what could have been a delicate nature tale into a tepid rock video, circa 1987.

Of course, all animation has one redeeming quality, no matter how poorly done: It can show you something you can't see in real life or in live-action films (even if the latter is looking more cartoonish every year, no thanks to George Lucas). For one glorious moment in "Spirit," when Adams is gagged and Zimmer is playing down the bombast, you are part of a stampeding herd of stallions and colts, running through unspoiled wilderness. For just a moment, you're as happy as a little girl. Then "Spirit" goes back about the business of trampling you.