War Horse (Dreamworks)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence.
Starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Toby Kebbell, Geoff Bell, Patrick Kennedy, Niels Arestrup, Celine Buckens, David Kross, Rainer Bock, Nicolas Bro, Leonard Carow, Robert Emms, Eddie Marsan.
Written by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo.
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
GRADE: A
REVIEW:
I've always loved horses, and really like a good horse movie (One of my favorites was Francis Ford Coppola's The Black Stallion). On Christmas Day, Steven Spielberg's War Horse will hit theaters, which means there will be one more great horse movie to enjoy for years to come.
Jeremy Irvine plays young Albert Narracott, a boy who adopts Joey, a show horse bought by his drunken father (Peter Mullan) during a bidding war with his surly landlord (David Thewliss). After Albert works and trains to transform the animal into a plow horse to save the family farm, World War I comes calling and the horse is sold to the British Army to pay the Narracott family debt.
Albert tries to join the war effort so he can stay with his beloved horse, but he's too young. Joey is instead given to the dashing Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), who promises to keep Albert informed as to the horse's well-being.
After Nicholls rides Joey into battle, the horse is captured by the Germans and given to the young Gunther (David Kross) for handling. Gunther tries get his little brother Michael (Leonhard Carow) assigned to horse duty, but the younger man is forced into battle as a foot soldier instead. Faced with the possibility of losing his sibling, Gunther rides Joey into the German brigade along with Joey's companion horse Topthorn to grab his little brother as the boys escape as deserters. The boys end up at a farm where Joey and Topthorn fall into the hands of a sickly girl named Emilie (Celine Buckens) and her grandfather (Niels Arestrup).
Eventually, the Germans invade the farm and take Joey and Topthorn into battle to haul a huge cannon around. The horses endure intense conflicts until Joey's had enough and tries to run through the barbed wire laden trenches and escape the War. Joey is unsuccessful and becomes entangled in a huge ball of barbed wire situated directly between the German and British front lines. One German and one British soldier meet in the middle to untangle Joey in a powerful scene of humanity in the midst of a inhumane war.
In the meantime, Albert receives word that Captain Nicholls is no longer part of the situation. He leaves his worried mother (Emily Watson) behind and heads off to the trenches.
War Horse is perhaps the best film of the year, and provides an epic look at a mostly forgotten war as seen through the eyes and experience of a horse that just wants to survive and go home. Spielberg's masterful direction is complimented by a fantastic cast and outstanding cinematography from Janusz Kaminsky.
The end of the film is a beautiful, touching emotional experience that most older kids and adults will enjoy.
War Horse is rated PG-13 for the intense, but non-gory battle scenes, so leave the kids under 8 at home.
