Review of War Horse (2011) by Cuddly P — 12 Nov 2013

A sweeping epic. Very moving & majestically shot. Very "Spielberg" -- for better or worse. By that I mean sometimes he's a little heavy-handed with his "signature style" and his penchant for plot-twists needs to be reined in a little (pun intended) -- they get old, fast. It's a great film -- especially for, say, the age 10 - 16 set -- and is visually beautiful...but surprisingly fails to capture the gut emotion of the play (If you've seen the play, you'll be disappointed.) . With all due respect, I think Spielberg should consider retiring, or at least perhaps focusing on only a few projects per year instead of spreading himself out so thin? (he seems to be everywhere...tintin, super8, etc.). Despite these critiques, I do think you should go see it...but be ready for a teeny bit of heavy-handed Spielberg-ian attempts to emotionally manipulate you (and the overly-dramatic score by Williams doesn't help).

In sum: it's wonderful, but I can't help but wish that a Spielberg from 20 years ago would have made it (more energy? less weepy melodrama?) instead.