The battle between Spielberg's DreamWorks and Disney moves up a gear with this traditional, two-dimensional animated cartoon.

The movie giants had previously locked horns when Shrek was pitted against Toy Story... a cinematic scrap that ended in an honourable draw.

Here, DreamWorks take the fight into Disney's historic backyard - the world of Snow White, Peter Pan and Dumbo. This follows the fortunes of mustang stallion Spirit, voiced by Damon, as he journeys through the untamed wilderness of the American frontier.

Encountering man for the first time in the form of the US cavalry, Spirit refuses to be broken after he is captured and forges a friendship with young Lakota brave Little Creek.

The look - as DreamWorks are the first to admit - is very old-fashioned when you're more used to the technical, computer-generated marvels of Monsters, Inc and Shrek.

However, the makers insist it is the most technologically complex film of any kind, utilising both traditional animation and CGI special effects.

The backgrounds are sumptuous vistas of soaring mountain ranges, painted deserts and lush, green valleys.

The characters are simply and starkly drawn, which does leave them jarring, rather than blending in with the background.

It doesn't help that every now and then Bryan Adams pops up warbling some quite horribly cliched American MOR rock ballad.

That said, the children in the audience seemed to enjoy the straightforward story and the decision not to have Spirit talking but to have him communicate through neighs and whinnies was a brave but successful one.

Tim Evans