Everyone loves Joey. He is steadfast, loyal and takes his jobs seriously, but he is also jovial, full of hope and loves to mess around. He is the perfect companion for those looking for one and isn’t the kind of being you can just kill and forget. In case you didn’t know, Joey is also a horse and the main star of Steven Spielberg’s second directorial effort this year, War Horse.
Based on Michael Morpurgo’s bestselling novel and the stage play by Nick Stafford, War Horse tells the story of Joey, a horse who is raised and trained by a young and determined teenager named Albert (Jeremy Irvine). The two form an incredible bond that gets severed by Albert’s father (Peter Mullan) on the day World War I begins. After being sold, we follow Joey’s incredible journey through the war as he affects the lives of the various people he encounters.
It’s one thing to experience war from a human perspective but it is a whole different ballgame when you can experience it from the eyes of an animal. This is the type of unique perspective that Spielberg is able to create for the audience, but much of it comes down to how amazing the actual horse’s performance was. Spielberg may have set up the shots but whoever trained and guided this horse throughout the filmmaking process did an incredible job, as it is one of the best performances by an animal I have ever seen.
Beside my love of the horse’s performance, the film does star some people as well, namely Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Kebbell. Like in most Spielberg films, you have the very optimistic and overly passionate characters and then you have the 
drunk, pessimistic ones. In this case, everyone but Peter Mullan and Emily Watson (who played Albert’s father and mother respectively), was very cheery and always tried to look on the positive side. While at times it could be nauseating, the performances were able to lift your spritis especially with John Williams’ score as the backdrop to the adventure.
To be honest, I didn’t really have much interest in seeing the film as horses and [some] plays aren’t really my thing. If you aren’t interested in a story about the travels of a horse or are looking for a war movie then you can skip the film. Plus, with the movie clocking in at around 146 minutes, it definitely is an endurance test for something that is honestly mediocre, but at least it makes your feel good inside thanks to its predictable hollywood ending.
People are continuously praising the film but for me I see it as a cookie cutter Spielberg film that is nowhere near his peak form and is simply on par with his last family film, War of the Worlds. I haven’t seen Tintin yet so I can’t compare but War Horse is another big budget effort from the man whose goal is to take you on a good, clean cinematic adventure that the masses can appreciate and get lost in. Though it does drag and has its unbalances when it comes to the distribution of screen time to characters, War Horse manages to lift your spirits and show that hope and determination can persevere in even the most unlikely of situations,
Rating: Most will enjoy it but it won’t be a film that you’ll rave about for weeks (6/10)
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