Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 22, 2021

Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas is a holiday themed spinoff of this year's animation film Spirit Untamed, which was itself a follow-up to 2002's Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. This film, running 45 minutes long, offers a bit of everything: new friendships, action and adventure, survival, and a meaning of Christmas. It's a simplistic film, structurally and visually, but it should offer a good enough balance of various components to satisfy the core younger audience.

Lucky Prescott (voiced by Amber Frank) and several of her friends venture into the city via train to buy her father a brand-new violin for Christmas. The trip is initially a breezy success: Lucky finds just the right instrument, it's purchased and packaged, and they're ready to go. But they are stopped in their tracks when they see a poster advertising that the friends' favorite music artist, Sally Jessup (voiced by Katherine McNamara), is going to be performing in town. But a slight detour to find a missing member of the group results in them losing out on the chance to see her. Making matters worse, their train is delayed due to a snowstorm, and when they get underway, an avalanche leaves them stranded in the blistery cold, in low visibility, in plummeting temperatures, and with little hope of making it home alive. Only the power of friendship and togetherness, sacrifice, as well as some ingenuity and Sally's soothing songs will hold the group together to make it home.

The film is charming enough if not a bit narratively simplistic, with predictable plot lines and more predictable outcomes. Still, the blend of down-home values, simple though well-defined characters, and a satisfying flow within the condensed runtime make the film a worthy holiday escape, one that will definitely speak to younger audiences who should be consumed by the story details and enthralled by the music and visuals.

Adults, unfortunately, won't be quote so thrilled with the visuals, which are very crude compared to the feature companion film. This is comparatively rough, more angular, lacking the fluid dynamism present in the mainline film. It's a jarring transition for those watching back-to-back or in close proximity, but it looks "good enough" for a budget release and the littlest ones won't care, though even some older children will notice the stark differences in animation quality and style.

Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal brings Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas to Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer. Though the animation quality proper is nowhere near so fluid and big budgeted as the mainline film, the Blu-ray does handle what's here with a general excellence. What's here is sharp and well detailed, whether character models or environments, and that holds serve in the most challenging scenes, such as dense snowstorms with low visibility later in the movie. Colors are appropriately bold and well defined. There's plenty of splash and vibrance, though the colors lack the nuance found in the mainline Spirit film. Black levels are solid. There are no source issues beyond some very light aliasing and compression is handled well, too (including in those snowy scenes, which could have been a haven for banding which is thankfully never a real issue). The movie may lack the visual grace of its feature length counterpart, but this Blu-ray offers a solid enough presentation as-is.

Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas rides onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track offers a fair sense of immersion, though much of it is front heavy. Clarity is solid enough across the full spectrum, but low-end authority and surround engagement are more lacking. The track offers a decent sense of clatter when the avalanche falls and impacts the train. It's mostly front heavy, as is much of the track, and it could have been more forceful but considering the limited budget the overall impact it is adequate. The same could be said of a bison stampede a few minutes later, which is fairly drowned out by the more prodigious, and impressively wide and detailed and loud, music. Music – whether songs and lyrics or score – is wide and nicely detailed and balanced. Dialogue is always clear and center focused for the duration. It never loses top priority as necessary.

Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas contains no supplemental content. There is no top menu; the film begins immediately upon inserting the disc. There is only a crude pop-up menu for toggling subtitles on and off. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover. This is about as bare bones a release as there is.

Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a short(er) film of simple charms and basic delights. It maneuvers through predictable plot devices and even if some of the main story components may not be totally predictable, how the resolve once they develop most certainly are. Still, it's a solid enough movie, crudely animated as it may be. It's voiced well, the music is a delight (even if the songs are far too contemporary for the setting), and the target audience -- small children -- should find it an agreeable 45-minute escape and a passable Christmas companion to the mainline film. The video and audio presentations are fine. No extras are included, not even a digital copy, so keep that in mind for the young ones who might want to watch on the iPad. Recommended.