Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron/Awesome

• Crowning Moment of Awesome: The chase sequences are all awesome, with incredible backgrounds and choreography, but the crowner is that final leap for freedom.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: The orchestral soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. "Homeland" and "The Long Road Back" are awesome, but "Run Free" takes the cake. And if you're okay with Brian Adams, "You Can't Take Me" is a rousing anthem for freedom.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The film was designed to be "tradigital", with an even blend of hand-drawn animation and CGI. Barring some moments of Conspicuous CGI, it looks amazing.
• A miniature Crowning Moment of Awesome comes in the Sound the Bugle scene. Spirit is having a Heroic BSOD because everything is seemingly lost - Rain, Little Creek, and any chance of ever seeing his home and his herd again. He's staring listlessly out the window, reminiscing over what he's lost. All this is potential Tear Jerker material, but the awesome comes when he ultimately remembers who he is and what he's fighting for. That look of determination that creeps back into his face is what makes the whole movie, because it shows that he really is a spirit that cannot be broken.
  • And the song that's playing in the background fits the moment perfectly, because just as it happens, the lyrics shift to "Then from on high/somewhere in the distance./There's a voice that calls/remember who you are./If you lose yourself/your courage soon will follow./So be strong tonight/remember who you are./You're a soldier now/fighting in a battle./To be free once more/that's worth fighting for."