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War Horse
War Horse

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Critics

77%liked it

Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson
Dec 25, 2011
PG-13, 2 hr. 26 min.

Trailer

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Movie Info

Cast: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Kebbell, Celine Buckens, Patrick Kennedy
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hr. 26 min.
Genre: Drama, Action & Adventure
Theater Release: Dec 25, 2011
DVD Release: Apr 03, 2012
Synopsis: Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, War Horse begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets-British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter-before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse-an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. --(C) Dreamworks

Critic Reviews

  • Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service
    It is a vividly detailed depiction of a time, a place and a conflict.
  • Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
    The trouble here is not so much that Spielberg's film staunchly insists on finding a happy ending even in the calamity of the First World War, but that he slathers it on so thick and leaves so soft an impression.
  • Rafer Guzman, Newsday
    The material sometimes feels oversugared, though it's also guaranteed to raise a lump in your throat.
  • Dana Stevens, Slate
    Tthe images have what I can only describe as a wonderful texture. They also have intense color: deep gemlike greens and reds, with black shadows out of an old master painting.
  • David Denby, New Yorker
    We never ask why the production is devoted to an animal while ten million men are dying, but when Spielberg does the story realistically, it seems trivial, even a little daft.
  • David Edelstein, New York Magazine
    Amid the incomprehensible slaughter, it's a horse that reminds these warriors of their humanity.
  • Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
    A film that may stay in the mind's eye longer than it lingers in the heart.
  • Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies
    Tonally jarring and structurally disjointed, it's a punishingly long and bumpy ride.
  • Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
    It's almost a great war movie in one direction, and almost a piece of irredeemable cheese in the other, and there you have it.
  • Ian Buckwalter, NPR
    It's not that a film can't be lighthearted family fare, a gritty war epic and a weepie all at once; the problem is that here, those elements feel strictly compartmentalized -- and calculated.
  • Get more reviews for War Horse at RottenTomatoes.com
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