Spirit- Stallion Of The Cimarron

As the Dreamworks Studio’s follow up to Shrek, Spirit is much less rambunctious than anyone would have thought. Using the old Black Beauty trick of telling the story from the viewpoint of the animal, the movie is a thoroughly old-fashioned ‘horsey finds freedom in the Old West’ adventure kiddy-flick – and despite obvious limitations, it does contain some of the most pleasing set-pieces seen anywhere at all in the last couple of years.

Spirit (voiced by Damon) is captured by the cavalry and broken in by a brutal general. (Cromwell, predictably enough) However, the beast doesn’t much care for the life of a mount, and escapes only to befriend a young Lakota brave, meet the mare of his dreams and become a legend of the Old West. Which is nice.

A more respectful, sedately-paced, politically correct affair then its predecessor, Spirit is too gentle and unremarkable to stand much hope of emulating its predecessor’s box-office exploits. The Bryan Adams-does-Sting soundtrack isn’t exactly going to get the punters queuing around the block either.