Review: 'Spirit Untamed' is a lackluster animated tale, a recycling of ideas from older and better movies

The only mystery presented by “Spirit Untamed,” a by-the-numbers computer-animated tale of wild horses and adventurous pre-teen girls, is why Universal Pictures wanted to release it in theaters — because even before the pandemic, this one had “direct to video” written all over it.

“Spirit Untamed” is a spiritual sequel, of sorts, to the 2002 DreamWorks animated tale “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” — except where that line-drawn film gave the horses voices (the title horse was voiced by Matt Damon), here the horses make only horse noise. (Credit voice actor and foley artist Gary A. Hacker for the whinnies and other horse noises heard here.)

Instead, “Spirit Untamed” focuses on a 12-year-old girl, Lucky Prescott (voiced by Isabela Merced, star of the live-action “Dora the Explorer”). Lucky was called “Fortuna” by her mom, Milagro (voiced by Eiza Gonzalez), a stunt rider who died in a horse accident when Lucky was just a baby. Her grieving father, Jim (voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal), sent Lucky to grow up in the city, cared for by Jim’s sister, Cora (voiced by Julianne Moore).

One summer, though, when Jim’s father is running for governor of the territory (which territory is never mentioned), Cora escorts Lucky out west to spend the summer with her dad. On the train over, Lucky encounters a herd of wild horses — whose alpha closely resembles the Spirit of the first movie. Lucky also meets Hendricks (voiced by Walton Goggins), an unscrupulous cowboy who’s determined to catch those wild horses and make a tidy profit.

Upon arriving in town, Lucky makes fast friends with Pru Granger (voice by “blackish” actress Marsai Martin), who rides in her dad’s rodeo show, and the guitar-strumming Abigail Stone (voiced by Mckenna Grace, who has had recurring roles on “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Young Sheldon”). Making friends with Spirit, who’s temporarily tied up in the corral, takes longer.

Besides its origin in the 2002 movie, “Spirit Untamed” also recycles characters from “Spirit Riding Free,” an animated series that ran on Netflix from 2017 to 2020. And that’s what “Spirit Untamed” feels like: Something recycled. 

Director Elaine Bogan — making her directing debut after toiling away at DreamWorks’ TV products —works to put some spark in the chase sequences and humor, humor in the scenes between Lucky and Spirit, and girl-power enthusiasm when Lucky, Pru and Abigail are on the trail. 

Unfortunately, Bogan is boxed in by lackluster animation and a script (by Kristin Hahn and Katherine Nolfi) stretched too thin to cover the running time. “Spirit Untamed” isn’t really a bad movie, just a mediocre one — and, what’s sadder, an unnecessary one.

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‘Spirit: Untamed’

★★

Opens Friday, June 4, in theaters nationwide. Rated PG for some adventure action. Running time: 87 minutes.