War Horse (2011) // dir. Steven Spielberg

Spielberg tugs at the heartstrings with this equine centric World War I epic.

Based on Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel, War Horse centres around Joey; a seemingly untameable horse bought at auction by the Narracott family for an extortionate price. From this point on, the Narracott's son, Albert (Jeremy Irvine), devotes all his time to training Joey thus forming a strong, unbreakable bond with him in the process. In order to pay off his debts to landowner Lyons (David Thewlis); Albert's father, Ted (Peter Mullan) sells Joey to Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) on the promise that he will be returned to the family following the end of the war. War Horse is full to the brim of typical Spielberg cheese, who adorns every emotional scene with an incessant and over-the-top musical score - which in turn, tends to devalue the story. It is also in parts, predictable, particularly the unsurprising 'happy ending', which feels a little unrealistic and contrived. The cast is packed with well known faces of British cinema (e.g. Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Thewlis), but due to their small, low key roles, they don't really add another dimension to the film, and are generally overshadowed by the horses and the realistic CGI. The major strong point of the film, and is indicative of Spielberg, is the incredible camerawork, really capturing the beauty of the picturesque Devonshire setting with endless landscape shots. The scenes of war, although not up to the gritty realism of Saving Private Ryan, are Spielberg's strong suit and really create an atmosphere of a real World War I battle. Another strength is War Horse's accessibility; it is an inoffensive family film with a feel-good atmosphere, that can be enjoyed (and cried at) by all generations - even if it doesn't quite match up to the standards of E.T and Jurassic Park.

Less of the war and more of the horse, Spielberg offers up a crowd pleasing war tale packed with cheesy, yet endearing (and sometimes emotional) moments.