War Horse Reviews

The most difficult part of writing a review is writing the opening paragraph. One stares off into space, or at an empty text box, waiting for the words to come to them. However, in the case of War Horse, much of my review from The Book Thief could be re-arranged to form the opening of this review. And that is because much of my criticisms and compliments regarding The Book Thief are completely applicable here. War Horse will absolutely divide audiences. The cynical will scoff. The sentimental will sob. And those representing the middle ground should be very impressed by what Spielberg has wrought from such a simple story.

War Horse is based off of a play, which was then based off of Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel of the same name. The film follows a horse named Joey as he is taken from place to place, owner to owner, changing and influencing the lives of those around him.

War Horse feels very much like a family film to me. In fact, it did not surprise me when I learned that Morpurgo's novel upon which the film is based is a children's novel. While most adults should find War Horse to be a satisfying experience, there is some humor and story concepts that seem to target a younger audience, or at least a broader one in terms of age. In fact, despite the PG-13 rating, I think War Horse is appropriate for someone as young as 10 years old (though various slow stretches and the extensive 2 and a half hour run time may test the young).

War Horse is as old-fashioned as a modern Hollywood movie will ever get. Old-fashioned to a fault, even. But it would take a pretty hard heart not to be moved by this film. Even though the various stories (there is no single plot) are fairly simple, the film is rich and layered. Even though most would argue the 146 minute run time is extravagant and unnecessary, I think it's nearly justified. War Horse contains the cozy feel of watching a cheesy Hallmark movie with your parents or grandparents at Christmas time, except with the steady veteran hands of Steven Spielberg, and a cast of talented actors.

The film's episodic nature is somewhat distracting. One gets familiar with the (seemingly) primary cast after the first 45 minutes. However, after that, the story moves on to a new set of characters. And then the same thing occurs (except within an even shorter span of time). This repeats a few times, and with each new set of individuals, one wonders what happened to the ones we left behind (some of this is explained, some is not).

Inevitably, some characters we meet and story-lines we are introduced to are far more interesting than others. Some characters are likable enough to spend an entire film around. Others get dull in mere minutes. But the film moves on like an odd sort of cake walk, moving from place to place. Person to person. This causes occasional pacing problems, but the film manages to feel mostly cohesive.

Despite this odd form of story-telling, War Horse is both entertaining and significant. There are a number of notable highlights peppered throughout the film. These include some riveting and deeply impacting battle sequences, a funny sort of friendship that develops between a German soldier and a British soldier, and the rousing, and effectively moving finale.

The visuals are often gorgeous. The very opening of the film contains some stunning cinematography, and there are many other moments of beauty in this field as well. The visual effects are integrated seamlessly, and the whole film is like a beautiful painting.

The performances are solid throughout, though the screen-time for most of the actors equates to roughly 30 minutes (or less). Jeremy Irvine as Albert Narracott has the biggest role (occupying about half of the run time). Irvine's performance is sincere and likable, and his relationship with his horse is easy to believe. Other members of the enormous cast, including Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Patrick Kennedy, are also very good.

The score, composed by John Williams, is beautiful. Rousing, majestic, and very exciting at times, John Williams proves for the umpteenth time his excellence in this field. Williams can truly do no wrong.

Some will find War Horse too cheesy. Others will find it too boring or too long. And others still will absolutely find it far too sentimental and old-fashioned. But War Horse wears these qualities on its sleeves. The story itself isn't especially strong (and the script makes little effort to hide this), but those willing to embrace this film will find themselves moved and even enchanted.

"We'll be alright, Joey. We're the lucky ones, you and me. Lucky since the day I met you."

War Horse brings a whole new meaning to the term "old-fashioned filmmaking." Though it carries a contemporary polish, it feels like the movie was written and meticulously storyboarded over half a century ago, intended to be directed by John Ford in the 1940s or '50s, but was eventually made in 2011 without any alterations to the original blueprints. It's a grand, sweeping 150-minute saga, infused with a level of schmaltz and corniness that no director has tried to get away with for a long time. Yet, it works under the careful control of veteran director Steven Spielberg, who brilliantly commits to the material, selling it with the right amount of conviction to render the enterprise sufficiently effective. Nevertheless, War Horse is not quite the masterpiece many had anticipated, as it's too long in the tooth and needs a sharper pace.

At an auction, hard-drinking family man Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) buys a spirited horse named Joey despite his poor financial situation. Ted's son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) instantly bonds with the animal, training his pal to plough fields and ride. However, Ted is forced to sell Joey to make ends meet, upsetting Albert as his equestrian companion is sent to the front lines of World War I. In the war, Joey changes hands constantly, encountering the sympathetic Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), a rural Frenchman (Niels Arestrup) and his granddaughter (Celine Buckens), as well as several members of the German military. Albert remains optimistic that he will someday reunite with Joey, enlisting in the army and enduring his own harsh wartime odyssey for the sake of his beloved horse.

Based on the young reader's novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo (later made into a play for the London stage), War Horse is a charming story steeped in pertinent themes and ideally suited to Spielberg's storytelling sensibilities. Joey is completely neutral in the war with no care for allegiances or politics, rendering him an ideal vehicle for crossing the lines in a WWI saga to explore both sides of the conflict. Even though the British and German soldiers battle one another, Spielberg casts both sides in a sympathetic light, using Joey as a device to highlight the human commonalities of the opposing forces. A number of powerful moments stem from this, including a beautiful scene in which a German and a British soldier leave their ranks to rescue Joey when he's tangled in barbed wires. As they work together towards a shared goal, the soldiers treat each other as regular human beings, briefly breaking from the doom and gloom of the war and realising that they could even be friends if it wasn't for their governments. To be sure, however, there are a handful of saccharine-coated scenes in the film, and the story's conclusion is overly optimistic and unsurprising. More problematic is the prolonged running time, leading to a somewhat sluggish pace. Sure, a lot of ground needed to be covered, but the film is often a bit distant, only successfully striking emotional chords on occasion.

From a technical perspective, War Horse is old-fashioned to extremes, stylistically similar to films like The Searchers and Gone with the Wind. It's a gorgeous war epic, with Spielberg's regular cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, turning the picture into a masterclass of beautiful compositions. The lighting is exquisite, and the framing is sturdy and patient, taking full advantage of the competent production values bursting with authentic period detail. When Spielberg's camera heads to the battlefield, War Horse goes dark, depicting a substantial amount of wartime casualties. Nevertheless, the deaths are tastefully handled. This doesn't feel like an R-rated film that was cut down to a PG-13, but rather a product of Hollywood's golden age, creatively suggesting violence without showing a great deal, and the results are often harrowing. Spielberg's sense of pacing is a bit off, but his contributions are otherwise admirable. Also effective is John William's characteristically majestic score; not one of the seasoned composer's finest works, but nevertheless a flavoursome accompaniment that enhances the film's visual elements.

If the Academy Awards had a category for best animal performer, no doubt the eleven horses used to portray Joey would be collective shoo-ins. Even though Joey is just a horse, he has a remarkable sense of humanity and expressiveness, an extraordinary feat on the part of the filmmakers. As for the human actors, none of them appear for long, save for Irvine who receives a considerable amount of screen-time as Albert. Irvine is a fine performer despite his unknown status, ably handling the emotional requirements of the role and selling his love for Joey. A barely-present Emily Watson also makes a big impression as Albert's mother, while recognisable actors like Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch heighten the production's sense of class and gravitas.

Sentimental motion pictures are incredibly divisive, as some people are driven to tears while others find themselves unaffected. War Horse is a polarising melodrama all the way through to its core - it is powerful at times, but for the most part, it held this reviewer at arm's length, and it's far too long. Nevertheless, Spielberg has created a sweeping ode to Hollywood's golden age, beautifully shot and assembled with proficiency, and although it's not an instant classic or one of the bearded maestro's best works, it is welcome to witness such a production in this day and age.

6.9/10

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but even though I'm not a huge fan of Spielberg, I must admit that his work is always worth a look. Furthermore, my wife is a huge fan of horses (we even used to have 3 of them in the past...) so it was a must see for us. Basically, it was a decent WWI feature but nothing really mind-blowing. I mean, it was visually really impressive but I wouldn't expect less from Spielberg. I also really enjoyed the way they managed to make the horse shows his feelings and communicate with the other characters. I mean, it never felt phony but rather genuine. Still, even though it was pretty uplifting, I thought the story was rather pedestrian. I mean, it was not bad at all but many events were really far-fetched, especially the ending and, to be honest, I never really cared about the whole thing. Furthermore, even though the events took place during the hell of one of the worst wars, there was still some room for a happy ending and some fluffy sentimentality but that's unfortunately a trademark inherent to Steven Spielberg's work. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a very well made war feature and I still think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I love Steven Spielberg movies, Jurassic Park trilogy is my favourite, but this one is sentimental/war type,
There are lot of characters in this movie that u want to hug, they care for this horse with their soul.

The photograph is excelent, nice acting, you can feel the horse agony, happiness and sadness.

almost, i said ALMOST made me cry!no major expoilers but if u have a weak heart u will die cryin haha, i had the feelin that end was deserved, and everything ended better than expected.

Say what you want about Steven Spielberg as an artist and director, but as maker of grand entertainments there’s currently no one who can compare. Whether he’s aiming for prestige, like he is here, or going for full-on fun-ride, like The Adventures of Tintin, Spielberg is a master of simple stories and many people’s first introduction to the greatest artists of film through his homages. And War Horse is a technically well-made, beautiful looking film that tells a sentimental and lovely story. And that’s about all it is.

War Horse tells the story of World War I through the journey of Joey, an English horse, as he travels from one side of the conflict to another. An eclectic assortment of international actors deliver universally strong performances, but very few of them manage to make a lasting impression since they’re all tasked with essaying a quick character sketch before we move along. Just the main family (Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, and model-pretty Jeremy Irvine) shows up for longer than a prolonged cameo. This proves problematic since we can never connect with a character long enough to actually care about what happens to any of them. But it all looks so pretty. The cinematography is awash in color in a way that hasn’t been seen since movies like The Red Shoes and Johnny Guitar. But John Williams’ score is a bombastic thing that clubs you over the head with its ponderous emotionality. This sentimental streak will either leave you a crying mess or, like me, you’ll feel slightly manipulated and wildly indifferent to the whole spectacle. The Adventures of Tintin was the better of the two Spielberg films this year, but War Horse is worth a look as long as you don’t expect too much from it.

1982 Childs Novel that was first adapted in for stage play followed by adaptation for movie by Steven Spielberg. This 2.5 hrs movie is quite gripping that keep the viewer glued to it.

The movie is a story of a horse set in the perspective of World War I.

A deep relationship of friendship begins between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him to help his family out of crisis and debt after his father bought the horse in bidding. With the beginning of world war I and on the brink of being collapsed with debt, Albert father sold the horse to battalion going on war against Germans. When Albert & Joey are forcefully parted, the horse moves through the First World War, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he met.

A good movie to watch.

After his successful 3D motion-capture animated feature The Adventures Of Tintin, the legendary Steven Spielberg provides us with another treat as he makes his second feature film of 2011. Although, War Horse is perhaps the most different war film that has ever been made seeing as isn’t that much a tale following the perspective of men during the war, but it’s really from the point of view of a horse. So, the fact that Spielberg was chosen for directing War Horse, there must’ve been an alter to the war genre as well as a guarantee that’ll leave the audience feeling emotionally attached and gripped to the film and what it consists of, which is a speciality of Spielberg. Having said this, War Horse provides a deeply personal story with a numerous number of meaningful messages that’ll melt your heart as well as break it.


As you watch it, it is rather easy to identify War Horse as a Spielberg film due to the facts that it mixes the innocence and personal friendships that we observed in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and the horror, heartbreak and devastation of war within his hugely successful war film Saving Private Ryan. So, this really is a film that only Steven Spielberg could pull off as it features so many particular aspects that we have seen him do so exquisitely over the years. Most directors nowadays would attempt to re-live what Spielberg has made, but this time Spielberg re-lives what directors before him had previously done. For example, he commemorates the works from directors such as Victor Fleming and John Ford with the farm-like backgrounds that provides peace and innocence, but with the dark and moving story behind it. Plus, it creatively manages to push in the R/15 certificate where war films are usually at this particular rating, but War Horse creatively manages to push in its PG-13/12A rating by being able to merge the deeply personal and intense aspects together that appeal to a wide target audience like it well and truly deserves.


Including the outstanding direction from Spielberg, the praise must go to breath-taking aspects of the cinematography, art direction and costume design. War Horse presents itself as a film of pure art as well as an emotional war-drama as the cinematography in many ways is very similar to classic Hollywood film Gone With The Wind. Plus, the backgrounds settings provides the “Awww” sense to it that makes it the occasionally sweet and innocent tale featuring the beautiful landscapes and the golden skies but also a sense of disgust and gloom due to the battlefields. John Williams, who has collaborated with Steven Spielberg in almost every single film that he’s done, never ceases to amaze as he once again puts together a very powerful, spine-chilling score that adds even more drama and reality into the film. However, despite the positives, the film did slightly suffer from slow pacing to begin with as it took quite a while to get going.


In almost every single film that Spielberg has made, he usually goes for an entirely different cast all-round as he works alongside some up-rising, young actors and some other experienced yet underrated actors in War Horse. However, despite the different cast the leading role has to go to Joey, the stallion who is the central figure of the story. Out of the 14 horses that played Joey, the leading one who appeared the most had already portrayed Seabiscuit in the film of the same name; this horse wasn’t just a horse make an appearance to charm the audience. It was literally like Joey, as well as the other horses, was providing an acting performance as we venture along with Joey through war and we can understand it from his perspective. This is exactly what this film is meant to bring out – how horses were truly treated during wars and the fact that their lives are still ones lost in the wars. So, if you’re an animal lover, you will almost immediately fall in love with Joey and will lead you to tears whilst experiencing his journey.


Jeremy Irvine makes his feature film debut as he portrays handsome and sweet-hearted Albert. Irvine’s performance may be underrated but he provides exactly what was expected from a young, sensitive man as the relationship between him and Joey is a firmly solid bond, especially in the opening segments of the film where they meet. In the war scenes, he renovates the charming and occasionally innocent nature that’s familiar to Lew Ayres’s role as Paul Bäumer in classic World War I film All Quiet On The Western Front. Emily Watson and Peter Mullan deliver grand performances as well as Albert’s parents Ted and Rose, and David Thewlis is very good as the arrogant landlord Lyons. Debuting French actress Celine Buckens and veteran French actor Niels Arestrup make crucial appearances too but they could’ve really done with speaking French with English subtitles as it would’ve perhaps made a bit more realistic. There are also other surprise arrivals into the film from recent breakthrough actors Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch and they make their mark in War Horse with solid performances too.


Overall, War Horse is truly an absolutely magnificent and epic story that expresses the firm bind and the personal effects that friendship beholds. Plus, it demonstrates war as a whole from an entirely different perspective that hasn’t really been taken into account. War Horse is one of those films that will leave you feeling a wide range of mixed emotions as it is a deeply inspiring, genuinely cute and nail-biting journey that is yet another fine accomplishment from Spielberg and will surely lead you to tears of heartbreak and joy.