Review of War Horse (2011) by Cheyne L — 24 May 2013

This was an odd film .. starting off something like 'black beauty' for a new generation, a typical boy-meets-horse story, with traditional good-old-days dialogue and demeanor, reminiscent of films from the hey-day of classic hollywood storytelling .

. but pretty soon, the war comes, and horse and boy are drafted into the military, where the increasing level of violence and graphic nature of things change this into something all too familiar for anyone who's seen 'saving private ryan' .

. as endearing as the boy trying to find his horse is, the violence only amplifying this, I found the focus on the horrors of war appropriate in the sense that, yes, this is war, but why war in a children's film? sure, not many have tackled world war 1, but is this the story and target audience to do it with? because as violent as the film is, it's considerably toned down compared to 'saving private ryan', Spielberg's other war epic .

. I would have liked for this to have been a less sentimental picture, but there is no denying Spielberg's mastery of this medium, and the result is a great picture, each shot saturated with color and detail, but the dichotomy of violent and sentimental tones of the film don't mesh well .

. I felt the violence of the film was only there to draw more emotion into the sometimes cliche and corny emotional scenes, and that manipulation is my only turn-off of the film ..