June 11, 2002 -- "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron," is a Disney-like family animated feature that, despite its use of advanced computer graphics, looks like a throwback to animation of years ago.

The movie is a western told from the point of view of the horse. The movie is a throwback to the early days of animation in that the horses don't talk. Portraying animals as animals instead of humans in animal form, what a concept! The story is told almost like a silent film with a minimum of narration or dialogue. What little narration is done comes from the voice of Matt Damon who tells the story from Spirit's point of view.

The romantic view of nature shown in the film is what you would expect. Except for a minor incident with a mountain lion trying to kill a colt, all is harmony in nature, with the main villain being Western Civilization epitomized by the railroad and the U.S. Cavalry. Consistent with the same philosophy, Native Americans are portrayed in the film as noble beings, in harmony with the land. Spirit's introduction to civilization is a violent one, as he is captured by cowboys and sold to the aforementioned Cavalry. The heavy Colonel (voice by James Cromwell) orders his troopers to break the horse. The horses of the U.S. Cavalry watch and cheer from their stalls as Spirit throws rider after rider. The Colonel is not a simple character, however, and he does something rather unexpected to demonstrate that. Spirit finds an unlikely human ally in the young Lakota brave Little Creek (voice by Daniel Studi) and there is even a horse romance between Spirit and Little Creek's horse, a paint mare named Rain. There is a head-on confrontation with the railroad and a battle between the Cavalry and the American Indians. The story has a mix of action, comedy and drama.

Although the artists do take some license with the horses to make their faces more expressive, the horses are generally well-drawn. A lot of computer animation was used in the film, but it still looks like a conventionally-drawn feature. Bryan Adams' music helps to get the story across. Adams' song "I Will Always Return" is a standout. The movie does play fast and loose with the facts in some cases. The film makes it appear that horses were in America forever, when in fact, they were brought here by Europeans. They are not a species native to the West and environmentalists probably would have outlawed them on that basis if they had the chance. Humans got here before the horses did. The landscape of the film is an idealized compilation of several national parks. The story shoves Yellowstone up against Monument Valley and other areas that are separated by hundreds of miles and months of travel and vastly different climates. The story makes it appear that Spirit stopped the progress of the railroad all by himself, when, in fact, the railroad was completed, and the native peoples were routed by the cavalry. On the other hand, the native peoples are still around and wild horses still run free in the Red Desert of Wyoming, only about 100 miles from where I live.

Spirit is an above-average family film with enough substance for adults and enough entertainment for kids, although kids will probably like it better than adults. I appreciated the effort it took to advance the story without heavy reliance on the crutches of narration and dialogue. These crutches are overused in too many films, such as "American Beauty." Visual storytelling is almost a lost art, but that art enjoys a revival with this film. Perhaps the reason for this was because the film's directors are both visual artists. Kelly Asbury was the storyboard supervisor of "James and the Giant Peach") and Lorna Cook was a storyboard artist of "The Prince of Egypt." This movie rates a C+. Note: this film was created in the Cinemascope wide screen format. Beware efforts to make the picture fill a small multiplex screen, as this can distort the image if a "scope" projector lens is not used. See it on a big screen.

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