Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for “Spirit Untamed,” a brand-new animated feature from DreamWorks Animation that centers on a fearless young girl on a journey of self-discovery while also rescuing a wild horse from heartless horse wranglers. What’s more, the film also features a newly recorded version of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”
The film is a standalone sequel to the traditionally animated “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” which hit theaters way back in 2002. It is also based on the DreamWorks Animation TV title “Spirit Riding Free.” While the aesthetics of it all looks amazing, the character designs seem perfunctory, whether it’s human or animal. It’s as if the film was just working to meet the bare minimum when it comes to the characters.
While there is something off-putting about the lifelessness in the character designs, as there are other elements of the film that help visualize the importance of representation and empowering young women to embrace their true selves. The film certainly looks it will be able to convey that message through the story, voice work, and visual aesthetics, at least.
Here’s the official plot synopsis for “Spirit Untamed:”
An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse, “Spirit Untamed” is the next chapter in the beloved story from DreamWorks Animation.
Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) never really knew her late mother, Milagro Navarro (Eiza González, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), a fearless horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town on the edge of the wide-open frontier.
Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which has caused her Aunt Cora (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore) no small amount of worry. Lucky has grown up in an East Coast city under Cora’s watchful eye, but when Lucky presses her own luck with one too many risky escapades, Cora picks up stakes and moves them both back with Lucky’s father, Jim (Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal), in Miradero.
Lucky is decidedly unimpressed with the sleepy little town. She has a change of heart when she meets Spirit, a wild Mustang who shares her independent streak and befriends two local horseback riders, Abigail Stone (Mckenna Grace, Captain Marvel) and Pru Granger (Marsai Martin, Little). Pru’s father, stable owner Al Granger (Emmy winner Andre Braugher, Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine), is the best friend of Lucky’s father.
When a heartless horse wrangler (Emmy nominee Walton Goggins, FX’s Justified) and his team plan to capture Spirit and his herd and auction them off to a life of captivity and hard labor, Lucky enlists her new friends and bravely embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue the horse who has given her freedom and a sense of purpose and has helped Lucky discover a connection to her mother’s legacy and to her Mexican heritage that she never expected.
“Spirit Untamed” features the voice talents of Isabela Merced, Julianne Moore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Walton Goggins, Andre Braugher and Eiza González
“Spirit Untamed” is set to open in theaters on June 4, 2021.
