Variety
This beautifully composed picture brings a robust physicality to tried-and-true source material, but falls short of the sustained narrative involvement and emotional drive its resolutely old-fashioned storytelling demands.
Full review
War Horse (2011)
Spielberg directed war-drama, based on both the children's novel and its stage adaptation, about a British lad who sets out on a journey to rescue his horse from the battlefields of World War I.
Albert's (newcomer Jeremy Irvine) pet horse and best friend, Joey, is sold to the calvary at the outbreak of the first World War. Heartbroken, Albert heads to France to find his friend, despite being too young to enlist in the British army. The film follows Joey's journey across Europe and through the war, as well as Albert's search.
Also stars Tom Hiddleston (Thor), Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC's Sherlock) and Oscar-nominee Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves).
2011Rating: M146 minsUSA
ActionDramaWar
- Director:
- Steven Spielberg ('Jaws', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'E.T', 'Jurassic Park', 'Schindler's List', 'Saving Private Ryan')
- Writer:
- Richard CurtisLee Hall
- Cast:
- Benedict CumberbatchDavid ThewlisTom HiddlestonEmily WatsonJeremy IrvinePeter Mullan
War Horse (2011) / Reviews
Total Film
War Horse shows Spielberg back in the saddle, in full command of story, setting and characters.
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The Guardian
In the end, while you can't doubt Spielberg's commitment to telling a putatively heartwarming and emotion-wringing tale, War Horse is just too calculated to do what he wants to do.
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Roger Ebert
War Horse is bold, not afraid of sentiment and lets out all the stops in magnificently staged action sequences.
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Newshub
War Horse left me strangely and definitively unmoved on every level, with a cheesiness factor alienating me from the characters and robbing me of any connection with the story.
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Hollywood Reporter
A grandly made, tear-jerking film for all audiences, the way Hollywood used to make them.
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Entertainment Weekly
This is a beautifully built, classically framed movie, shot with the unshowy natural expressiveness of a John Ford Western.
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Empire Magazine
War Horse is bold, exquisite family filmmaking in the grandest Hollywood tradition.
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