Although little girls probably will embrace this film, debuting today at movie theaters, the rest of the viewing demographic will be unimpressed.
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| When her beloved horse is snatched by a heartless wrangler, Lucky (far left) enlists the help of best friends Pru (center) and Abigail, as they pursue the nasty desperado. |
Scant effort is made to individualize most of the primary characters, who aren’t much more than stereotypical tics and hiccups. Goodness, the villain of the piece — voiced by Walton Goggins — isn’t even granted a name.
Co-directors Elaine Bogan and Ennio Torresan bring nothing to the party.
Even the CGI animation is flat and uninspired. The entire production has the bland, lazy, slapdash and cloyingly sweet atmosphere of something that was rushed to market, with minimal concern for quality. It’s an overlong TV episode with delusions of grandeur: not quite My Little Pony territory, but darn close.
Young Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced) never knew her mother, Milagro Navarro, a famous horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town (this from the press notes) “on the edge of the wide-open frontier.” Ergo, figure mid-19th century American West. Although Lucky has grown up on the more “civilized” East Coast, she has her mother’s rebellious streak and love of danger.
This greatly concerns her Aunt Cora (Julianne Moore), who decides to move them back to Miradero, where Lucky’s father, Jim (Jake Gyllenhaal), may have better luck controlling the girl.
Although initially out of place in this raucous railroad town, Lucky soon becomes best buds with Abigail Stone (McKenna Grace) and Pru Granger (Marsai Martin). Each is bonded to a horse — Boomerang and Chica Linda, respectively — which proves useful when Lucky becomes infatuated with a newly captured wild Mustang she dubs Spirit.
This Mustang also catches the eye of a heartless horse wrangler (Goggins), who hopes to capture both Spirit and the extensive herd that he led in the wild. The girls, in turn, are determined to stop him.
That’s it for plot.
Forget about supporting characters; Moore and Gyllenhaal do nothing to turn Aunt Cora and Jim into actual people … although, in fairness, the script gives them nothing to work with. Andre Braugher is a bit more fortunate as Pru’s father, Al, the local stable owner; he has something approaching a credible personality.
Goggins’ horse wrangler is simply The Bad Guy; he has no personality whatsoever. Snidely Whiplash, Dudley Do-Right’s foil way back in the day, was far more entertaining.
Why hire actors as talented as Goggins, Moore, Braugher and Gyllenhaal, if they’re not given any opportunity to contribute?
The film’s minimal dramatic heft rests entirely on the shoulders of Lucky, Abigail and Pru. Yes, it’s nice to see a story focused so closely on girl power, and Merced, Grace and Martin make them engaging; they’re plucky, clever and devoted to each other. The mild perils they face in the untamed landscape, as they pursue the wrangler, are suspenseful enough to edge the film into PG territory, but I doubt any viewer — even the youngest — will worry.
R. Orlando Duenas’ editing is reasonably tight, and we can be grateful that the film runs only 87 minutes. Amie Doherty’s score favors sweeping, inspirational themes that link the bond between Lucky and Spirit, with that of the girl and the memory of her mother; that’s a nice touch. And, yes, I’m also grateful that — aside from its central anthem, “Fearless” — the film isn’t burdened with forgettable songs.
All things considered, though, I simply don’t understand why this movie exists. It adds nothing new to the franchise, merely rehashes territory covered far better in a TV series that’s only a few years old, and pales when compared to its two-decades-old ancestor.
It’s time to let Spirit run truly wild again, free of any further interference by lowest-common-denominator filmmakers.
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