“Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” follows the adventures of a wild and rambunctious mustang stallion as he journeys through the untamed American frontier.

Encountering man for the first time, Spirit defies being broken, even as he develops a remarkable friendship with a young Lakota brave named Little Creek.

The courageous young stallion also finds love with a beautiful paint mare named Rain on his way to becoming one of the greatest unsung heroes of the Old West.

Academy Award® winner Matt Damon (“Good Will Hunting”) provides first-person narration for the title character. The film also features the voice talents of Academy Award® nominee James Cromwell (“Babe”), who plays a Cavalry Colonel determined to break this defiant mustang; and Native American actor Daniel Studi, who is the voice of Little Creek.

“Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” goes to show that what is regarded these days as traditional animation is anything but traditional. The advent of the computer in animation has revolutionized the genre, perhaps most notably with the inauguration of entirely computer animated films, like last year’s Academy Award®-winning “Shrek”, also from DreamWorks.

However, the computer has also had an ever-increasing impact on 2D—or what is known as traditional—animation. The proof of this is the surprising fact that, for all its painterly qualities, “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” is DreamWorks’ most technologically complex animated film of any kind to date.

The film is directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook and produced by Mireille Soria and Jeffrey Katzenberg from a screenplay by John Fusco.

The music is by Academy Award®-winning composer Hans Zimmer (“The Lion King”), with songs by Grammy winner and three-time Oscar® nominee Bryan Adams (“The Mirror Has Two Faces,” “Don Juan DeMarco,” “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”).

The film was invited to screen at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18th.

“Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” opens in the UK on July 5th and is distributed in the UK and Ireland by United International Pictures.

Spirit producers Dreamworks talk about the future of animation !