Your girlfriend singlehanded saved your life with this

Fun fact: horses are one of the hardest animals to draw, let alone animate. Their anatomy is just... kind of an anomaly? To animate an entire movie about horses, and to do it well, is challenging. So, this is beautiful.

All praise to your girlfriend for making you watch this classic.

Fun fact: All the horse sounds, right down to the hoof beats are real! They had actual horse vocal recordings and recorded horses going over various terrain for the different hoof beat sounds!

Smarty pants calling spirit MID His gf :*feels offended and gives the how dare you face* watch it again

I will never forgive the girl power bullshit remake they did with it. This isn't a my little pony movie, and that is exactly why it is great! Its unique, mature, yet real tone is what made it outstanding and a classic! 😤

Btw, horses are consired the hardest animal to draw. *To. DRAW*. James Baxter drew horses for days to learn their anatomy and behaviour (and the other animators ofc). Animating him was not easy. (Source: James Baxter talked about it at Playgrounds Eindhoven last year. We got to see the frames onnpaper that they used! A beautiful shot from Belle and The Beast was there too)

Spirit was actually the reason I got into animation. I watched it when I was 4 and when I saw the behind the scenes on the dvd I was absolutely blown away. I didn’t fully understand what the animators were doing but it really made me want to become an animator, and it’s been my life goal ever since😂

I don’t think box office is always an indicator of quality some of the greatest classic movies are box office bombs

Shout out to her bc you were dragging it lol

Sinbad and Spirit are like Treasure Planet. They are hidden diamonds in the rut that never got the chance they deserved to fully shine. Hats of to your girlfriend for waking you up to reality

Your girlfriend is top tier, make her a keeper. Also this just made me realize Spirit probably failed more critically simply because it was a Native allegory in 2002. It still did well but 69% on rotten tomatoes?! For THIS masterpiece?! I feel it'd rank a lot higher today.

Sinbad is similar to treasure planet with how they performed and being ahead of there time, you shouldn’t judge them by the box office

BASED Smarty Pants’ girlfriend Spirit is one of my favourite animated movies, it’s so gorgeous

I remember seeing the trailer in theaters. It comprised of the opening sequence with the eagle and expanded over the grassy landscape. When those horses erupted on screen, it was epic! You felt like those horses were really coming right at you! They captured the power and majesty of being surrounded in a horse herd so well! I still get chills to this day.

"Spirit is mid." Ooh, that there's a paddlin'.

spirit was THE reason i became into animation, into art, into horses into the very idea of bringing things to LIFE! that opening shot alone made me go "i want to recreate this feeling of being ALIVE as we dive through the canyons with the eagle" the eagle being the imagery of freedom, of spirit himself being freedom and self. Spirit has and will i say, brought life to many artists. its not just ABOUT horses, it brought storytelling to where it should be, its beautiful and my favourite way of telling stories for animals. your only understanding through the animals perspective, they wouldnt understand anything other then their own wants and needs but aware certain things.

I was really confused when I found out that they made a Spirit sequel series about a human interacting with Spirit rather himself? I like horses, not people! xD

My mom told me this movie was the only one that ever made my dad cry. I've never seen the man even come close to shedding a tear in my life. To me that says a lot about Spirit. When I was a kid I was blown away watching it and nowadays if I sit down to watch this I'll cry at least 10 times either from sheer amazement or sadness. I'm glad your girlfriend got you to take another look at Spirit, it's deserving of so much more hype than it gets imo!

Spirit is actually one of my many favorites among the Dreamworks movie run. I remember watching this movie over and over again because it was so good. 😄

When I watched it as a kid I wasn’t very into it because I lived in the world of talking animals and I didn't understand the emotion, though I still enjoyed some things. Watching it later, after growing up, I realized how amazing the score, songs, characters, and story are

My grandpa raised horses and he loved this movie. He loved that the horses didn't talk, that they moved like real horses, acted like real horses (mostly), and that it shows the real *spirit* of the wild horse. Add in the absolute banger soundtrack and the fact the horse is "voiced" by MATT DAMON, and it's an absolutely amazing movie.

Oh, you have a girlfriend? 🆒️ And yes, Spirit is alot better in quality then what we all give it credit for

I watched this film over and over as a child. Spirit was, undoubtedly, one of my animated animal heros. (Balto and Simba being the others.) This started my transformation into a full-blown horse girl. Lol! But as an adult, I fully appreciate what it encapsulates. The setting of the sun on the "Wild West"; one that Frederick Remington loved to paint; the brutality on the Natives. (By the way, can we just appreciate how Dreamworks respected them as a whole while they made this, and also highlighted how close they were with their animals?) Apparently, Spirit's father was a black stallion called Strider. He was also captured by humans, and possibly killed by them. In this light, it is even more heartbreaking seeing the look on his mother's face as he tells her it's going to be okay, when she already knew that he probably would not survive the humans. Some say that the Eagle is a manifestation of his father in 'spirit' form. But I have another theory. In the train, when Spirit has that vision of his family, there appears a black horse galloping behind his mother. I believe this is when Strider appears to strengthen his son in his time of need. The movie's opening lines telling the audience it is up to them to decide whether that land was won or lost in the end gets me every time. That, along with: "There are those in Washington who believe the West will never be settled. The Northern Pacific Railroad never reach Nebraska; a hostile Lakota, will never submit to Providence. And it is in that manner of small thinking that says this horse can never be broken." Ring true in some form or other. But, thanks to those who respected the West, namely Theodore Roosevelt, we still have those hoofbeets ringing clear across parts of our land. That is what Spirit's whole being stands on: that Nature will find a way.

Your girlfriend has, all my respect for doing this

i remember voice dubbing Spirit when i was little, then when i got a little older, i realized that they don't need to talk. I'm very happy that they made that choice. :) Also Dreamworks, please bring 2d animation back!

i think the narration takes itself really seriously, but it works because 1. the movie hits some really serious stuff! it has a serious undertone! and 2. it’s spirit himself narrating it, and he’s a bit of a self important dickhead of a horse whose character arc is largely about expanding his worldview, maturing and humbling- still, he lacks the context the audience has, and to him the events of the film are the singular most important and dangerous things anyone could ever possibly encounter. there is nothing he as a horse could imagine that’s more important than keeping the herd (and later rain, little creek and the other Lakota people and horses) safe, and no greater danger to them than a train line carrying the men who represent all evil to him. the narration is such an important part of this movie IMO seeing as the horses don’t speak, and it’s our only insight to what he’s thinking, so every line had to have been chosen so carefully, and I think they did a great job representing both spirit’s character and conveying plot.

Nice to see that you gave it a second shot :) Also, I always find it so weird that some Americans refuse to acknowledge that their ancestors were horrible people even if that’s what really happened in history…

She saved you from such a disgrace

Girlfriend made an excellent decision

Thankyou for making this spirit is my favorite movie of all time, and it saddens me how underrated it is. I hope a bunch of youtubers make videos about it and more people get to enjoy this amazing film.

people thinking Spirit is "too PC" is absolute bonkers

I remember watching this film so many times as a kid, always loved it.

it's not right to judge a movie based on box office, it's more about luck and marketting and whomever edited the trailer than what the movie actually is, there's plenty of people who shouldn't have gone to see coraline because parents didn't realise it might be too scary for their kids and there's plenty of people who go to live action disney remakes even though they are often completely inferior to the original

I remember as a kid I was already excited about an animated movie about horses 🐎

I'm not a horse guy, but even I enjoyed Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron wholeheartedly.

Growing up in the southwest US and going on road trips to all the national parks as a kid, this movie is one of my all-time favorites! I rewatched it with friends and we can tell generally what state they're in throughout the movie, and it's so cool to see my home drawn/represented so beautifully. The only other time I've seen the southwest animated so thoughtfully was in Cars, which also has a soft spot in my heart. I'm not indigenous/native American so I can't speak to the accuracy of the representation here, but as a kid it definitely seemed like one of the most realistic/nuanced pictures of the American colonization/genocide in the west over other films like Pocahontas. Also the soundtrack is fantastic and great for road trips!

Spirit stallion of the cimarron is such a classic very underated at the time of its release I watched it alot its great if there was a place for there to be both a healthy balance of styles both in 3d computer animation and the traditional classic 2d hand drawn style it would be wonderful to see happen also this is one of the rare animated films to tackle the western genre would love to see more animated films in this genre and cover more historical type settings

The animation of this movie amazes me to this day. Every single frame looks perfect. The horse anatomy, but also the adaptation into the cartoon style (especially in the face) is incredible! Also funny you showed a brief clip from RDR2; In the online version of the game you can get a mustang horse that looks exactly like Spirit.

I mean, Iron Giant was also a flop in theatres but essentially became a cult classic afterwards. Some movies just need to age like a fine wine. I personally find most critics to be about as exciting and reliable as a sack of hammers - Spirit deserved far more credit than it got. Honestly, people whining about movies being too PC just piques my interest even more. Mainly because you learn pretty quick how thin-skinned people are 😆 what, you can't handle the tiniest reminder of the fact that America has never been perfect and has contributed to horrible attrocities for as long as it's been colonized? Grow up. Face it. Quit shoving your head in the sand, you look ridiculous. Getting an animated film about horses and Native Americans, even if it's designed for a kid's palate, made a solid stamp on my life. Still a favorite to rewatch to this day. Glad your gf knocked some sense into you about it!

i love this movie. when i was a little kid i spent a lot of time with my mom's sister and her family, and my cousins weren't allowed to watch a lot of shows and tv. my aunt was very religious and bought heavily into the satanic panic of the 2000s. but she had this movie on dvd, and it was one of our favorites. as a black kid i empathized very greatly with both spirit and the lakota because i understood the ways in which chattel slavery was similar. and i appreciated that the movie recognized the importance of harmony with nature instead of trying to bend it to your will. but my absolute favorite part of this movie is the masterful way it navigates storytelling with very little dialogue, through the music, the animal sounds, and the expressive animation. it's so enriching in that way.

I LOVE "Sindbad"! It's one of my favourite movies! And it's has been since I was a kid. And I also realy, realy, realy like "Spirit", but mabey that's just because I like horses.

first movie I very clearly remember crying to when I watched it as a kid, it's a core memory and I've loved drawing horses ever since

the term "traditional animation arms race" echoes through my mind

Welcome to club of not embracing this underrated masterpiece.

Spirit is one of my all time comfort movies. I can watch it again and again and not be bored. The animation and story are both wonderful and the movie itself made me passionate about art when I was young. I'm so glad you gave it a second chance!

Honestly, I'm so glad that your girlfriend made you rewatch Spirit. Wish more people's girlfriends did that. xD

The funny thing about this movie is that horses aren't native to americas. Europeans brought horses there and the wild ones are decendants of those that escaped or were abandoned and some point. There turned out to be a horse-shape slot in the ecosystem so they survived while not becoming invasive species. So, yeah, for horses it was longer because they have shorter faster generations but they are there only as long as europens. Not like the Spirit could know, or would care about petty chistorical details. But, no he is not techically native, more like naturalized.

I just watched Spirit last week, and it's beautifully animated, with a very exciting story.

Amazingly animated, gorgeous landscapes, soundtrack has amazing orchestral score and some bangers, greatly written characters, and an amazing message about what spirit is and why spirit is important to community.

Boy the chaos of ur arguments about simbad would make Eris so happy.

Spirit is one of the only movies that made me cry from the music alone. Listening to it while driving through the mountains is a feeling like no other. America is my home, and there’s just something about this movie that makes me appreciate the beauty of this land, and be grateful for it. I grew up in the countryside, and it feels nostalgic to see it on screen, even if I may not be from the mountains.

My aunt took me to see Spirit when I was a kid and I was such a sobbing mess she asked me if I wanted to leave 😂 I’d never seen a movie as a kid where injustice just kept happening to the main character. It served this child well, taught me a lot ❤

8:12 -- Spirit being violently kidnapped from his people, tied up and forcably dragged back across days or even weeks to the army base, just so they can break his mind to use his body, and the absolute horror on his face when the gates open and he sees exactly what the army has in mind for his kind: brand-burns and shaved heads and forced labor -- what they have already done to break, burn, starve, and exploit all those other horses and when the gates close, they will do the exact same thing to him with no means of escape-- that's a nice firendly gentle subtle callback to slavery. It also makes that music montage to "You Can't Take Me" (objectively the best song in the movie) a LOT more intense and meaningful

I have a distinct memory of SOBBING watching this when I was a teenager. Crying so hard it woke my mom up. She teases me about it to this day

If Dreamworks and Disney returned to 2-D animation I'd learn to do a backflip then and there. But that's just wishful thinking.

I LOVED this movie! I regret not seeing it in the theater. It was well written and I really loved that it wasn't a talking animal movie...and this is coming from someone whose favorite movie is The Lion King. I also really loved the soundtrack. And obviously, I absolutely adored the animation. This movie deserved better. ❤❤

i watched this movie when i was five and the memory of how much it emotionally moved me and made me cry is a core memory but my opinion of the fact that it managed to make me cry has changed to a positive one! this movie was insanely good.

as a child i would quite literally wake up but still be half asleep and right away would call out “horse” repeatedly while not being old enough to know how to pronounce the word until my mom would put the movie on. one of my favorite movies ever

spirit is my absolute comfort film and it makes me yearn for being free and wild (and a horse as well i guess). it´s the one horse movie i still love to this day loooong after my horse girl childhood

Spirit, Treasure Planet, and Ferngully were some of my most watched 2D films as a kid. I'm glad you've come to love this film

I remember running around the house to the opening scenes. Loved this movie as a kid.

I remember when it came out. I watched 5 different times on the cinema. Yes, I made my family buy me tickets for it for 5 times. I think the last 2 were from my grandmother, who took me to the cinema on the last day and let me rewatch the movie again to say it goodbye. I never did that with any other movie.

I LOVED this film growing up I think I might of had it on dvd but I do remember when it was on Netflix, as a kid my fondest memories were listening to the soundtrack. I think I rewatched the movie about 17 times. Whenever I get sad I find myself watching spirit :’) I loved the film and also love horses!! It’s nice to appreciate for its accuracy and it’s such a nice plot !!

Random neat fact, the animation for the horses in Spirit were done by a guy named James Baxter; He also guest animated and voiced the horse James Baxter in Adventure Time, which is why the horse has a much smoother animation than the other characters :v

I used to watch this movie on loop as a kid, I guess I had good taste because it really holds up!

Okay I'll add a few scrambled thoughts of my own, because Spirit was one of the movies that made me get into art. Not so much animation, though I have done some very simple attempts. Back when I was a kid, I had the DVD (it's still on a shelf at my parents' place) and it had a little guide video on how to draw horses in the style of Spirit and also some behind the scenes stuff iirc. I had always been artistic, but this movie basically made me start working on getting better at anatomy and drawing in general because WOW. I wanted to be able to draw well. Also for some context, I'm Finnish and have only ever watched the Finnish dub of Spirit. I tried watching it in English a while ago, but I literally could not, because it felt very... different? The soundtrack is essentially the same, the songs are in Finnish as is the dialogue, but otherwise it's the same afaik. Personally I like the Findub so much better, it just feels almost like the voices fit better?? Also the songs in Finnish are absolute FIRE!!! No hate to the American versions, but the Finnish covers are absolutely beautiful. Especially the cover of You Can't Take Me that plays after Spirit is captured. I would link it here, but I think YT doesn't like links in comments anymore because of bots. So if you do want to listen to the Finnish cover, just type this into KZfaq: Spirit you can't take me nondisneyfin (The channel name is NonDisneyFIN). It should be the top result, and also has [HD 1080p] in the title for some extra specificity if needed. There are other uploads of this song, but personally this specific one is the best clipped from the movie. Some cut the beginning too short, others cut off the end, making too abrupt. This one's pretty perfect. Anyway. Not much to comment on the start, though I agree about the animals-not-speaking part. The body language and expressiveness of the horses is so good that no dialogue is needed. And I mean, that's pretty darn impressive, actually. To make a somewhat complex facial structure such as a horse so expressive that it's obvious to even small children, while still retaining that they are indeed horses and not some kind of amalgamations between horse and human. I've seen it happen, it doesn't always work and would probably traumatise the children lol In general about the movie, I absolutely loved it. As a kid, and now as a young adult. Being Finnish, I had no proper knowledge of American history as a little kid, so this sort of introduced me to it, I guess? As I think back on my childhood experience with this movie, I can honestly see that it may have had a slight influence on my own values. Some of them more strongly than others. Freedom is a very important concept to me, though I think the American and Finnish ideas of them differ somewhat. Personally I wasn't super hyper into the love story side of Spirit, but it's not bad at all, and Rain (I believe that's the name of the love interest) is a very nice character as well. Without her, some parts of the movie wouldn't be the same. It's a bit silly, horses in love, but it works. I think as a kid I was just mad that Rain was keeping Spirit from achieving his goals of freedom, I guess. He would rather stay with her than to go back home? I think it's just a slight deviation from his character, the unbreakable wild spirit. To abandon the wilderness for her? Mehhh. But I still love her as a character. I'm just not into very romance-focused media, though there is a lot of good stuff out there. it's really a shame what the new Spirit Riding Free did to Spirit. I've seen a couple rants about the series. The style and animation have gone WAY downhill, what with being a semi-crappy 3D style because of budget. Where the movie had very real and smooth and beautiful movement, the series are..... well, not that. I mean, it's made for kids, but it's still kinda awful. OG Spirit was also made for kids, but it's awesome. They also basically made Spirit, the unbreakable, an absolute loser. He just lets this random kid ride him. They have some kind of a "connection" or something??? It seems very 'stereotypical horse girl series where the girl magically makes the dangerous horse sweet as can be in approx. 0.2 seconds' coded. There is a good message behind the show afaik, but it's still like... no? You can't just basically clickbait people by using Spirit... I would watch it to see if it's as bad as I've heard, but I don't want to contribute a single cent.

Thank goodness your girlfriend made you rewatch the film

nice summary. i think this movie is underrated, it looked really cool visually when it came out and has some interesting animation style, which still holds up pretty well overall. i would have certainly liked to see dreamworks continue with this style, so its a real shame it didn't catch on. and doing the music + narration combination rather than talking animals was an excellent decision. it keeps the movie a bit more grounded and adds to the traditional western feel. hans zimmer and bryan adams did so well; that soundtrack is really great, was one of my favorite CDs as a kid and i still listen to it from time to time.

This movie is a masterpiece. Sometimes it takes a few viewings to really appreciate the depth, but the animation in itself is some of the best there is. James Baxter is such an outstanding animator, too. Also, the reason why Spirit failed in the box office was marketing and people who were not ready for the truth. It’s got quite a cult following now, much like Treasure Planet binned for Disney, but is now a well-loved cult classic. Spirit is such a mature film. Love it so much!

Spirit was my favorite movie as a kid. I was a horse girl as a kid and LOVED horses. I drug my mom to the theater as a kid to go see it and im pretty sure i was that annoying kid bouncing around way to excited to see the movie. And i still love it. It was one of my go to movies to watch. I had the sound track, toys and anything else i could. my mom also liked the movie she was impressed by the animation and particularly loved the train chase scene.

This is my all time favorite childhood movie. Together with Pocahontas. Might have to do with the Native American fibes, and my love for horses. But it is also just a genuinly good movie with beautiful music and emotions.

I actually have a version of this film with the Mat Damon narration removed pretty seamlessly and it's great. There's a torrent for it floating around somewhere, at least there used to be.

Watching this movie as a child is the reason I did 6 years of vet school with a specialty in horse medicine. Spirit can be many things, but "forgettable" is definitely NOT one of them

I remember when this movie came out, it was right after the Disney animation heyday. People just couldn't comprehend an animated movie about animals where they don't talk, and I think they felt deceived assuming that's what it was going to be.

Spirit is both deep and a banger. The soundtrack will make you rock out, cry and fill you with courage. Edit: And the bad guy’s defeat was so cool cause it showed you can overcome by example (by spirit in this case) winning the battle without sending them off a cliff into fire. But in a subtle and oddly mature way, getting a nod and realizing the battle is over.

This film shaped my childhood and gave me a sense of wonder and freedom. I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

Sinbad is a phenomenal movie and nobody could change my mind on it

Apparently this movie was going to be way darker at first but they toned it down. Rain was going to actually die, and, from the train wherein Spirit is traveling, he was going to witness a buffalo hunt. I am also fairly certain the train hauling scene was going to be more intense.

The actual evilness we did to the natives is very tragic. I remember reading my first college book of what we did to them, and it brought me to tears. No child, no women, no men were safe.

Your girlfriend saved you from a bombardment of horse girl rage

2D animation is still alive and well, just not in North America.

The most interesting part of the development of the movie is they mixed the digital and traditional media! This movie claims to be the first use of digital and traditional animation mixed. Lots of the models and landscapes are painting over with traditional animation. The landscape paintings are meant to mimic artists from the late 1800s and the early 1900s who depict the same environments out west. All of the native characters were played by native actors. Like said, previously the horse noises including hoofbeats were all made by real horses. Horses are one of the hardest things to draw/animate because there movement is so clean and complex. We all know what they look like and how they move so its hard to mimic realistically. Spirit unfortunately was tarnished by Dreamworks attempt at 3difying it in "Spirit running free" but I will forever love the original for its anti western expansion pro native rights and natural rights vibes. The horse blows up a train. he's my hero and fostered my love of horses.

I listen to the soundtrack to this day

Fun fact: The reason we don't see Spirits dad is because Stallions will fight any other stallion off a herd. You can unwrap that more and most people are horrified once they learn that spirits mom is in the herd. Because... one stud "watches" over a band of mares Also, the reason these horses have eyebrows id for expression since the horses don't talk. Real horses don't have eyebrows

No, I haven't memorized Spirit. I KNOW IT BY HEART. I know the songs, I could lipsync with the dialogues (unfortunately I don't speak horse so neigh for that) but I know the cues for it. And what really tickles my addiction to it is that no matter how many I've watched it, it doesn't get old. It's still fun and excitable and emotional. I mean that much impact is rare. This movie hit so many high notes for me and it's not even that deep. I love it, always.

Something this movie reminds me a lot of surprisingly is how the rohirrim are characterised in the lotr movies, horse focused and commenting on how times are moving past them

This was my favourite movie as a kid, despite being painfully hard to watch and introduced me to a very interesting part of history. And, gosh, people, you have to listen to the italian soundtracks, they are breathtaking!

8:48 nowadays we can't ignore the sins of the older generation because those sins are the corporate greed bleeding the middle class dry with low wages and price gouging and Shrinkflation (r/shrinkflation for a display of what that is) and other Scummy, financially shortsighted policies. Sooner than later, life on minimum wage will be impossible here, please send help

Whenever this movie is on, it just hit Netflix, I will without a doubt cry; I will cry when I watch it soon

I just read the title and was like 5min saying in disbelief „What?!“ in different octaves - you called spirit mid? Your girlfriend set you on the right path my friend. What?! I mean… There is no world where spirit is mid 😂 Honestly no 😂

My sister was obsessed with this movie when we were young so we watched it together over and over again. For me the really sad part was when he was in the train - I think the train wagons really resembling ones used for prisoner transportation into concentration camps (in Poland we learn about it in quite a young age) was a part of the impact. Also as much as I generally don't like American films regarding the messy American political history, this one I've never had a problem with. Maybe because it was never saying "you are guilty just by being white" or any of this.

You did indeed flip flop hard and that’s 100% acceptable for Spirit.

If your First nation this movie means something special to you deep in your soul

Sinbad is amazing. Better than Shrek in any of the movies they made and I will die on this hill. It was witty and amazing in a grand character development that of Treasure Planet.

Your gf is someone i just heard about and i like her already I’m glad you rewatched it

I love how even if the movie flopped, everyone seems to still agree its REALLY good! Yeah it's definitely showing it's age with the animations but oh well. I grew up watching this movie alot, basically to the point of knowing the to this day almost perfectly so it makes me happy seeing others watch it and realizing its still good for how old it is!

Spirit is my 2nd favourite animated movie. The movie obviously does't show the worst parts of the wild west (suprisingly mature for a kids movie already), but it does show enought to make thier point about the USA bad part, where the movie fails is to show any bad part on the Native American side falling into the trope of pretending the indegenous ppl had morally good or perfect societies and did no wrong. Which on itself I dont mind that much, sacrificing accuracy for the plot to serve a fictional narrative is a move everyone does on movie industry, the problem is the side effect of conflating it with reality after in a concious or uncouncious ways, and in extreme cases this is what we call propaganda (with intention).

8:21 Ironically Spirit wouldn’t have his ‘land’ or ‘customs’ if the European continent hadn’t brought his ancestors over with them when the colonies were established lol horses aren’t native to the US of A, unlike the ‘Wind💨 & the Buffalo 🦬’

Spirit is my favorite Dream Works classic!!!