... the horse didn't do anything...

It's a clinic on 'How to make a Spielberg epic:' There's sweeping cinematic shots and brilliant lighting. John Williams' score is sublime (if occasionally corny). It's beautiful, no doubt. However, this movies confuses me. It's obviously intended to be a children's movie about horses and bravery (forgivable), but the WWI subject matter, a few chilling scenes and a PG-13 rating make it a bit too much for younger viewers. Essentially it's a live-action Disney war movie for teens who love animals.

Story: 9 Screenplay: 10 Acting: 10 Cinematography: 10 Editing: 10 Entertainment Value: 10 Directing: 10 Music: 8 Overall Production Score: 9.7

Laughable, mang.

Having considerably lowered my expectations, I actually enjoyed it. And it doesn't hurt that it's very pretty with several heart-tugging albeit unabashedly emotionally manipulative moments. But of course it doesn't change the fact that it is nothing but an overly sentimental, supremely illogical, and second-rate offering from Spielberg.

I know this is redundant and that we've seen it all before, but shoot me: I fell for it completely. It's done with such undeniable craftsmanship and Spielberg is such a shameless over the top dramatic director that it all works here. The last few scenes had me crying throughout even if I knew it was all as artificial as it gets.

Say what you will about Jude Law, but given that 'War Horse' is basically 'Cold Mountain' set during the First World War, exchanging him for a horse made the road in this particular road movie very long indeed. Not that the horse was bad. Hell, it was the best actor by a landslide. But the zoophilic adoration of its surrounding cast got uncomfortable after two hours, and the "Let's PLOW THIS DAMN FIELD!" moment of pure farm heroics should never be spoken of again. Spielberg's worst.

A family "war" film from the maker of Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. Ok, it really is less a war film and more about a boy obsessed with a damn horse. Pretty, but, ultimately, silly. The amount of cringe-worthy moments in the last act was atrocious.

Even lesser Spielberg is still good and all the technical aspects are superb. Surprisingly the weakest part is the acting; the horse seems to be the only one that does not overact in a ridiculous way. Matt Milne takes the prize for worst performance of the year. With a single movie on his resume he is now among my most hated actors.

What are your feelings towards swelling, triumphant orchestral music every five minutes?

Spielberg hits cynicism's rock bottom with this horrific piece of schmaltz in which the moviegoer is manipulated to sympathize with an animal in the midst of one of history's bloodiest and most senseless wars. Joey the horse is humanized in the foreground while in the back, extras dehumanize the death and misery of a plethora of humans. War Horse's technical aspects are mighty impressive, but it ultimately represents everything that's wrong with Spielberg and the Hollywood he helped to create.

Visually this is a great movie, but storywise it sucked big times. First of all the lead character (the horse aside) Albert was choosen very poorly and didn't made a single impression on me. This movie has tons of people who we all get to see, but who we don't get to know. I actually hated some of the characters (the german boys) but luckily for me Spielberg changes the side-characters every 20 minutes. You like horses, you will like this movie. Only likeable person was the little french girl.

For better or for worse, it's nostalgic times in Hollywood: A silent film is the Oscar-favourite, Scorsese goes Méliès, Woody to 30's Paris and 'Tinker, Tailor' oozes with the 70's. Spielberg's John Ford'ish effort has severe problems finding it's place between youthful Black Beauty-like drama and serious war epic. Kids will yawn, adults will squirm. You can't deny it's stunning visuals, though.

Large point deduction for being too sentimental. Still a good movie though, not in the least for its portrayal of the First World War. "Be brave, be brave, be brave." Shiver.

Glossy and fascist bestiality-erotica.

Unusually somber and dreary film from Spielberg feels cynically calculated at every turn - though admittedly comes to life during the impressive battle scenes, but even these are a reminder of his much better work on PRIVATE RYAN. Borrows from John Ford, as well as specifically LASSIE COME HOME, NATIONAL VELVET and GONE WITH THE WIND -- but throws in so many cornball, schmaltzy, juvenile situations that the film becomes a chore to endure. Irvine proves to be an irritatingly doe-eyed lead.

I love horses, but while watching this I told myself many times ''Die, stupid horse, die. And so, this agony shall end.'' Spielberg expects us to believe this crap?

Every bit as contrived and ridiculous I feared it could be.

Excelent cinematography.

The final 30 minutes are flawless. The rest of Hollywood needs to take lessons in how to end a movie from Spielberg; he's always done it brilliantly. That being said, the rest of the movie is entertaining for all the WRONG reasons, and things that are supposed to be strong, emotional moments just come off as funny a lot of the time. Also features a fairly amusing John Williams outing, in which the score basically shouts "Hey, I'm John Williams, did you remember?" over and over again at you.

There is so much wrong, so much to dislike about this terrible movie I really could never fit in all into a mini-review! Every second of it is ridiculous, self indulgent and trite. The whole movie crumbles under the weight of the overacting, sickly melodrama, shallow relationships and forced, phony sentimentality. There are so many unfathomably stupid scenes in this movie, they were floating around in my mind afterwards like someone had thrown a bucket full of turds into a swimming pool. Awful.

A long and boring movie, about a horse. The ending is so suppose to be so sad, its actually hilarious! Besides that, no man would ever get so attached to a piece of meat.

Germans speaking English (with cliche French & German accents) to each other is only the tip of Spielberg's iceberg of nonsense. Horrible film with a slick, expensive production coating. Don't watch this. It's a huge waste of your time.

I cried. I cried and I'll admit it. Still, the parts I thought were predictable ended in twists I think were unnecessary or could have been done better. Ablely performed and heart touching, War Horse was not a waste of time.

http://martinteller.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/war-horse/

War Horse is filled with show-stopping landscapes, brilliant skies, and emotionally taut moments. It’s also flawed, occasionally ineffective, and sometimes reaches too far for a cheap emotional payoff. [Full Review]

Is it possible to get diabetes from watching a movie?

A sappy, corny and horribly unnecessary prequel to Glue Factory.

I thought there was a reason why I was avoiding this movie, now I know why. Slow to start, slow through the middle, didn't get to the end. Just never really captured what might have been.

at least you can't feel cheated. this movie has war and a horse. it also has other stuff not mentioned in the title, but that is even less interesting. and while there's basically nothing wrong with pacing and realization, nothing feels right, either. it feels all fake, the characters are forced on you, the plot is interchangeable and the acting is overdone. and whats with the language-mixup? germans switching back and forth between english and german, even when talking to each other? wtf?

Terrificly inspiring. The day after I watched it, I taught my pug how to mow my back yard and trim the hedges. Tomorrow we're joining the Marine Corps. Yay movie!

Predictable.

While I expected this movie to royally piss me off, it actually beat my expectations. Somewhat. The horse thing I could have cared less about, but at least I got to see some WWI through the lens and production of spielberg.

I thought this was acceptable family drama. Visually pleasing and interesting look at the effect a horse has on various folks lives.

The luckiest horse ever!

In War Horse, we witness the horrible toll that war indeed takes, on everything and everyone. Albert comes home from the front, but he comes home wiser and sadder. Based on a children's book written by Michael Morpurgo, War Horse is no sanitized story meant for youngsters. This is a story about lost innocence and the atrocities of war, told in sometimes heartbreaking fashion. It's also perhaps the most moving, beautiful and inspirational movie of the year. (pluggedin.com)

He loves that horse very much. Like, so much. There is love and passion. So much of it. A fine prequel to Mr. Hands.

a great movie 1 0 out of 10

Shame on Spielberg for this epic boredom... Instead of this one, go see a good horse documentary on Nat Geo and a good war movie... you may also watch Gone with the wind again (just to make Spielberg happy; for his poor attempt to create a similar feel movie but failed so badly)