On Friday May 24, 2002, DreamWorks released their latest animated film, Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron. Spirit tells the story of a young mustang stallion named, you guessed it--Spirit, as he is first captured by the army, then rescued by the young Lakota named Little Creek and taken to his home.

All Spirit wants is to return to his mother and his herd, but the army still wants him back. When Little Creek sets Spirit free, he wants to go but also doesn't want to leave Rain, a paint mare belonging to Little Creek. Rain refuses to leave her master and when trouble is heard, they race back to the village to save Little Creek. A chase scene ensues, culminating in Spirit saving Rain and Little Creek from being shot by the army general and being washed over a waterfall while trying to save Rain from drowning. When they are swept ashore near the bottom, it seems Rain is dead and once again, the army captures Spirit, this time sending him by way of train to his new "job", along with a few Indian horses from the village.

With Rain gone, Spirit loses his will to live at first. Gradually, as he thinks of his homeland and how it was to run free, he regains his determination and upon being put to work, tricks his way out of the harness, frees the other horses, and sets fire to the train (?) they were pulling towards his home. While running ahead of the burning engine, a chain around his neck catches on a fallen tree and Little Creek arrives just in time to get him loose and run with him to safety.

The army--never giving up--sees the two escapees and once again a chase scene ensues, this time more dramatic. In the end, Little Creek and Spirit are at the top of a large rock formation in the middle of a canyon with the army several feet below them, on a ledge. To escape, Spirit propells himself into the air, above the heads of the soldiers and general, to land on the other side of the canyon.

Just as Spirit and Little Creek are celebrating, the general, still bent on revenge, aims a rifle at them, but as he looks at the two who had escaped them time and time again, lowers the gun and orders his men to move out, letting horse and boy go free. Returning to the Indian village, Spirit meets up with Rain, whom Little Creek had found and nursed back to health. In the end, Little Creek says goodbye to Spirit and Rain, sending them on their way to the homeland.

A very good movie with wonderful music and animation, a strong plot, and realistic horses (^.^) that don't talk as in some movies, making it much more lifelike. I forget what rating it got, but I give it (on a scale of one to five) a six!