The animated film Spirit Untamed is a new adaptation of the animated franchise Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was produced and released by DreamWorks Animation in 2002 and received a positive reception. Inspired by its success, DreamWorks decided to create a new story, first as an animated television series and now as a new theatrical film. Join me as we examine how successful the studio has been in creating this new work.

The original film focused on a horse named Spirit, a wild and untamed stallion, and a Native American man who tries to build a connection with him. The bond between the horse and the man was portrayed beautifully and succeeded in evoking strong emotions from audiences. The animation managed to engage viewers with its storytelling and left a lasting impression thanks to its unforgettable soundtrack.

Spirit Untamed differs significantly from the original animation, one of the most notable changes being the gender of the main protagonist. Lucky, a twelve-year-old girl, lost her mother in a horseback riding accident during childhood. The circumstances of her mother’s death are shown very quickly in the opening minutes of the film. This decision drew criticism from many reviewers, who believed the animation could have explored this issue in greater depth.

The creators later attempted to develop Lucky’s character more thoroughly, and they largely succeeded in doing so. However, this came at the expense of Spirit’s own characterization. The original film allowed both the man and the horse to grow together, beautifully depicting their bond, whereas Spirit Untamed fails to achieve this balance effectively.

One could even argue that Lucky’s characterization is somewhat exaggerated. Her mother’s horseback-riding skills are not a convincing enough reason for Lucky herself to be highly skilled at riding without any formal training from an adult. It feels as though the creators became so focused on portraying a strong female character that they overlooked the basic principles of creating a believable story centered around a skill such as horseback riding.

This issue has become increasingly common in many modern films due to political and social trends. Today, many Hollywood movies and TV series seem to rely heavily on featuring a strong female character or a Black character in order to secure commercial success at the box office. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with including female or Black characters in cinematic works. What becomes disappointing is when excessive focus on these elements causes the quality of other aspects of the production to decline significantly.

Additionally, several professional riders have stated that the film and Lucky’s way of interacting with Spirit are far from realistic according to the standards of horseback riding. This weakens the film’s credibility from a professional standpoint, lowers the target audience to a younger age group, and makes it difficult to take the story seriously.

That said, the film still contains several noteworthy strengths. One of them is the costume design for the female characters. Lucky wears both long dresses and, when appropriate, shirts and pants. Unlike many traditional Disney princess films, this sends a message to girls that they have the freedom to choose how they dress and are not confined to outdated stereotypes of girls wearing only puffy dresses. In fact, the gender change of the protagonist appears to have been made precisely to reflect these modern ideas and values. The creators clearly aimed to appeal to young female audiences and teach lessons that had often been misrepresented in older works.

Beyond this meaningful concept — which may seem repetitive but still deserves cultural attention — the animation also promotes other valuable themes. Protecting animals and defending their freedom are among the film’s strongest points, and this idea is beautifully reflected in the ending. The filmmakers attempted to avoid the clichés typically associated with such themes and approached the subject from a different angle, which adds some appeal to the movie.

The film’s humor, especially its use of animals for comedic moments, seems like a good idea in theory but is not executed particularly well. As a result, the interactions between animals and humans lack enough comedic power to truly entertain adult audiences. Nevertheless, the voice actors clearly put considerable effort into delivering the humor through their performances, making the voice acting one of the film’s stronger aspects.

The relationships among family members — particularly between father and daughter, who often struggle to connect emotionally — are also among the movie’s strengths. Sometimes they work hard to communicate, while at other times, despite their deep love for one another, they cannot even sit together peacefully at the same table.

The animation contains many tense and exciting moments, yet the outcomes are usually predictable from the beginning. Nothing truly surprising occurs in the storyline to astonish the audience. Still, it should be noted that the victories and resolutions are not entirely illogical. The “miraculous rescues” are not excessively unbelievable, but neither do they inject enough excitement into the narrative to leave viewers amazed.

At times, the soundtrack attempts to compensate for the lack of excitement with energetic and emotional music, and to some extent it succeeds. In fact, if we avoid comparing Spirit Untamed to the original film, its soundtrack is enjoyable and rhythmically appealing in its own right.

The colorful visuals of the animation, combined with the soundtrack, create a visually pleasing experience. At certain moments, the beautiful backgrounds successfully capture the audience’s attention.

Overall, Spirit Untamed is an average film that ultimately lacks a strong emotional impact. One of the major criticisms from audiences was its weak adaptation of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Although the filmmakers even attempted to incorporate the Cimarron mountains into the movie, the underdeveloped characters and childish humor are among the main reasons why this adaptation fails to live up to the 2002 original.

Some people have also speculated that, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic difficulties, DreamWorks Animation attempted to capitalize on the popularity of the Spirit franchise with a less ambitious adaptation aimed primarily at box office revenue, rather than quality. However, it must be admitted that DreamWorks has far more famous franchises it could have relied on if profit had been its sole intention, so it does not seem likely that the Spirit franchise was revived purely for financial gain.

Perhaps if the film had been released without associating itself with the highly acclaimed Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, it would not have faced such heavy criticism from reviewers. Spirit Untamed is a moderately decent film on its own, but it is simply incomparable to its spiritual predecessor, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. As a result, it is unlikely to earn a lasting place among great animated films and will probably be forgotten in the near future.