Common Sense Media Review
By Emily Ashby
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Lengthy story tangents make for laborious interactive story.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Spirit Riding Free: Ride Along Adventure
What's the Story?
SPIRIT RIDING FREE: RIDE ALONG ADVENTURE opens as Maricela (voiced by Darcy Rose Byrnes) is planning a surprise birthday party for her beloved horse, Mystery. She asks Lucky (Amber Frank), Pru (Sydney Park), and Abigail (Bailey Gambertoglio) to take Mystery for a ride while she puts the last few touches on the festivities, but horse thieves swoop in and kidnap the horse while they're out. As Lucky and her friends try to rescue Mystery, they're faced with choices that viewers can help decide along the way.
Is It Any Good?
Interactive episodes like this one are a fun way for fans to take part in the characters' adventures, but their success depends on how well the story balances offering multiple directions with avoiding an endless maze of wrong turns and no end in sight. This Ride Along Adventure trends toward the latter, with lengthy spans of time between turning points and options that take viewers on tangents that feel like full-length episodes unto themselves. What starts out as an exciting mission eventually becomes an exercise in guessing which choice might lead to the exit most quickly.
Spirit Riding Free: Ride Along Adventure also involves a fair amount of "realistic" (inasmuch as an animated show can) peril for the young characters. Anyone who knows Lucky and her friends understand they're independent spirits who have the run of their frontier town and its wild surroundings, and this story brings them face to face with horse thieves, their manipulative incarcerated "mob boss" type, and a gaggle of ruffian kids who mostly do the grown-ups' bidding out of fear for the repercussions if they don't. It's a fairly intense scenario that should factor into parents' decision about letting their young kids watch and play along, but likely is OK for the show's young tween fans.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the characters demonstrate perseverance in this story. What accounts for the courage Lucky and her friends show in the face of danger? Is it always easier to be brave when you have friends by your side?
Are the villains in this story scary? What qualities about them seem realistic? How does the involvement of kids in their schemes change their effect?
How effectively does this episode's interactive component work? Does playing a part in the story help keep you interested in it? When you get to the end, do you want to start over and make different choices to see where the story goes?
TV Details
- Premiere date : December 8, 2020
- Cast : Amber Frank , Bailey Gambertoglio , Sydney Park
- Network : Netflix
- Genre : Kids' Animation
- Topics : Adventures , Animals
- TV rating :
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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