The first half hour of War Horse is so golly-gee and baby-ish that it's silly. It turns into a different film in Act II, but doesn't improve. The director daftly chose to present a very violent war with men slashed with sabers, blown to bits, burned with mustard gas, and mowed down like grass by the terrible Maxim guns, but no blood. It's so P.C. to eliminate the blood, but the violence is really loud and violent, so I don't get who wins? The story very predictably plods along with this "miraculous" horse being relayed from one loving caretaker to another. Emotionally, they do "get you" with some great tear-jerker scenes, but I just can't figure out how they are going to market this. What age of kid wants to see a depressing movie about a boy losing his horse? What adult wants to see a predictable, kid-like horse movie with no mojo to it? Animal lovers, especially horse owners may have a hard time with a few scenes, but don't worry! A scene where a live, but injured horse is crushed by a tank is ... not shown. Huh? that's right. It's edited out. The scene makes no sense, but at least it's P.C. If you want to watch a brilliant horse movie, see Secretariat instead. I guess your mileage may vary, but I wanted to warn people that this must not be thought of as family fare for smaller kids. Too violent, long, and emotionally intense for young viewers. I wouldn't watch it again nor recommend it.
Review of War Horse
