SPIRIT UNTAMED, US, 2021. Voices of: Isabela Merced, Jake Gyllenhaal, Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Julianne Moore, Walton Coggins, Eliza Gonzalez, Andre Braugher. Directed by Elaine Bogan, Ennio Torresan. Rated G (Very mild themes and violence).
As the title indicates, this is quite a spirited animated entertainment, suitable for family watching.
It has been a long time since the first film featuring Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002). But, the television series has kept Spirit story alive. It is enjoyable to continue the narrative (which does go back to some of the television episodes).
We are introduced to Lucky Prescott (voiced vigorously by Merced), a young girl even more spirited than the stallions racing through the countryside. We also see something of her mother, in a flashback; a champion at rodeos, skilled in show-riding horses, sadly dying in an accident. Lucky is looked after by her (initially) rather prim aunt, Cora (Moore). Lucky gets into all kinds of mischief and awkward situations, quite unrepentant – ruining her grandfather’s campaign to be Governor. She and Cora are to go out to the West, for the summer vacation, to meet her father whom she has not seen for years. He is a railroad engineer, still grieving for his wife.
Looking out the train window, she sees Spirit and the other stallions, delighted, full of glee, barging through the carriages to get to the back, mayhem on the train, rescued by a tough hombre (who turns out to be the villain, leader of a group of bank robbers who plan to rustle the stallions).
But this is the story is of Lucky and Spirit, her learning to tame him, the bond between them, some exciting and dangerous rides, the pursuit of the rustlers, a death-defying trip through high-peak mountains and a precariously dangerous ridge… But, Lucky is not alone. She has to great friends her own age, Prue and Abigail, who share her adventure to rescue the stolen stallions.
This is very much a film for the female audience – perhaps one thinks of the word feminist. The three young girls are tough, can survive in the West, and bond together. In fact, the men don’t really get much of a look in! Lucky’s father, Jim (Gyllenhaal) stays in the background, a rather soft and protective father. There is a young boy who gets up to mischief and rides and obstinate little donkey. Prue’s father is sympathetic managing the corral. But the villains are all those tough men. If it has been felt in the past that women have been relegated to secondary roles in westerns, Spirit Untamed certainly makes up for it.
The animation is vivid, the locations beautiful, the racing of the horses exhilarating, all dramatically displayed on a big wide screen.
The target audience is the pre-teen children’s audience, especially girls. While young boys watching the film might feel on the outer, parents will probably enjoy it.
Universal
Released 10 June
Peter Malone MSC is an associate Jesuit Media
Image: (from left) Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced) with Abigail Stone (Mckenna Grace) and Abigail’s horse Boomerang in DreamWorks Animation’s Spirit Untamed, directed by Elaine Bogan.