Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

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Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Movie Poster
Directed by	Kelly Asbury Lorna Cook
Produced by	Jeffrey Katzenberg Mireille Soria
Written by	John Fusco
Narrated by	Matt Damon
Starring	Matt Damon James Cromwell Daniel Studi Chopper Bernet Jeff LeBeau
Music by	Hans Zimmer Bryan Adams
Editing by	Clare De Chenu
Distributed by	Dreamworks SKG
Release date(s)	May 24, 2002
Running time	83 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$80,000,000 (estimated)
Official website
IMDb profile

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is an animated film that was released in 2002 by DreamWorks Pictures. It follows the adventures of a Kinger Mustang stallion who is nameless until the end of the movie.

1 Animation and Sound
2 Plot
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Animation and Sound

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was made using a conscious blend of traditional hand-drawn animation and computer animation in a technique the film's creators dubbed "tradigital animation." In the sound department, recordings of real horses were used for the sounds of the many horse characters' hoof beats as well as their vocalizations. None of the animal characters in the movie speak English beyond occasional reflective narration from the protagonist mustang (voice of Matt Damon).

The background score was composed by Hans Zimmer, with songs from Bryan Adams. The opening theme song for the movie is "Here I Am" written by Bryan Adams, Gretchen Peters, and Hans Zimmer. It was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Another song, which was not included in the film itself (although it can be heard in the ending credits), is "Don't Let Go", which was sung by Bryan Adams with Sarah McLachlan on hamonies and piano. It was written by Bryan Adams, Gavin Greenway, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and Gretchen Peters. Many of the songs and arangments are set in the American West, with themes based on love, landscapes, brotherhood, struggles, and journeys.

The original soundtrack contains 15 songs, special edition one extra.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The movie opens with a continuous shot of a bald eagle soaring through the mustang's homeland until it flies over the mustang's herd. The scene following, which is the mustang's birth, is the opening to the actual story. There is a selection of scenes from the colt's formative years as he grows into a stallion, taking control of a herd of horses living in the Cimarron Territory like his father Strider. Part of his role as herd leader is shown when he fights a cougar that attacks two of the herd's foals.

After becoming too curious for his own good and investigating a human camp, he is captured with ropes after a long chase and is sold to the United States Army, who at the time of the movie are fighting the Indian Wars. There he encounters a Colonel (based on Colonel Custer; in the film he is known simply as "The Colonel"), who becomes somewhat obsessed with taming the wild horse.

After knocking the army's ferrier unconscious, The Colonel decides it is time to break the mustang, and men in the Army colunteer to ride him. The mustang bucks them all off. The Colonel orders for the horse to be tied to 'the post' for three days, no food or water. During this time, a hostile Lakota Indian named Little Creek is brought into the fort and also tied to the post. In the night, one of Little Creek's friends throws him a knife, which he quickly hides as the bugle sounds. This marks the end of the three days, and the Colonel rides the mustang.

After attempting all of the tactics that defeated his former opponents and failing to buck the colonel off his back, the stallion is exhausted, and the Colonel believes he has broken the wild horse. Three horses are tied to a post outside the corral and look down in shame when the mustang does not buck the Colonel off his back. The stallion suddenly stops, and the Colonel is surprised. The mustang snatches the reins from the Colonel's hands, break the saddle's girth, and sends the Colonel flying, breaking the corral fence in the process. Shortly after, the mustang escapes with the aid of Little Creek. Their escape helps all the war horses escape, but the mustang is quickly captured by Little Creek's tribe.

After failing to tame the mustang, Little Creek ties him and his own horse, Rain, together. Rain shows the mustang her world of the Lakota village, and in time the mustang grows to like the Lokota and feel a growing affection for Rain. His affections for Rain, however, do not soften his resolve to be without a master.

During an attack on the Lakota village by the Army regiment led by the Colonel, Rain is shot by the Colonel and the mustang is determed to save her. Rain falls into a river, and the mustang leaps in after her in a rescue attempt. After falling off a waterfall and lying on the bank with a badly hurt and severely exhausted Rain all night, the mustang is once again captured by the Army. Little Creek is determined to free the mustang once and for all, and follows the men who captured the stallion.

The mustang is sold as a workhorse for the Transcontinental Railroad. As he and many other horses are dragging the train engine up a mountain, the mustang realizes that if the track extends along its present course, it will infringe on his homeland. He manages to set the other workhorses free and escapes with just a chain on his neck streaming behind him as he runs away from the engine. Without the other horses' support, the engine slips, rolls over, and slides rapidly down the mountain after the mustang. He barely gets away when the engine hits stored gunpowder and causes an explosion, sending sparks everywhere. A forest fire results, and he leaps over a log; the chain catches on the log, but Little Creek catches up to to the mustang at this point and frees him. They leap into a river to escape the fire.

When the mustang wakes in the morning, he spends short time playing with Little Creek before the Colonel and his men find them. In desparation, Little Creek sends the mustang running. Realizing Little Creek is in danger, the mustang runs back and pushes Little Creek on his back. During the climatic chase scene between and on canyon walls, the two get trapped on a plateau. As the Colonel and his army get closer, there is no way to go except to jump over a large gorge. In a spectacular leap of faith, the mustang and Little Creek jump across to the other side.

The Colonel stops one of his men from shooting the two, and exchanges nods of respect with the mustang before they part. The mustang races back to the rebuilt Lakota village with Little Creek still on his back, where he finds Rain still alive. Little Creek finally gives the Mustang a name: Spirit-Who-Could-Not-Be-Broken. Little Creek sets Spirit and Rain are free, and they race back to Spirit's herd.

[edit] Trivia

Rain received an honorary registration certificate from the American Paint Horse Association (APHA), which has registered more than 670,000 American Paint Horses to date. She is the first animated horse to be registered by this organization.
Garth Brooks was originally supposed to write and record songs for the film but the deal fell through.
DreamWorks purchased a horse as the model for Spirit and brought the horse to the animation studio in Glendale, California for the animators to study.
In the Disney animated feature Home on the Range, Maggie once refers to Buck as "Stallion of the Cim-moron".