War Horse Review

War Horse has been hyped to be one of the best films of 2011. It's been advertised as being a story of a man and a horse being separated by World War I and the belief the two reunite eventually reunite. The filmmakers had a great idea and story in mind but didn't necessarily pull it off as advertised.

At the beginning, the film does a great job depicting how Albert, the son of a poor farmer and played by Jeremy Irvine, befriends and raises a horse named Joey. Albert's father, Ted (played by Peter Mullan), purchases Joey for a lot of money despite the fact Joey is not a horse that can help with farming. Albert is determined to prove his father and other doubters wrong by teaching the horse several commands and making the horse useful around the farm. The set up is done well and creates emotional moments when Joey is taken by the British army for World War I.

While the set up to create the connection between Albert and Joey is done well, it is dragged on for a long time and will leave you wondering where the plot is going. This connection is needed for the rest of the movie but could have been done in a shorter amount of time.

After Joey is taken in by the British army, the plot is mainly moved by sequences involving the horse. Through several different plot points, Joey ends up on a farm and goes back and forth between both sides fighting in the war. While it is easy to tell that the people living on the farm Joey ends up on are French through the dialogue, you may still want to brush up on your World War I history. The battle scenes in the trenches clearly mark the time period, however, there are several moments in which it is difficult to tell which army is which. English is spoken throughout the film and you do have to look at the helmets to figure out who is who. It does make it confusing at times and it is hard to tell what army Joey is currently with at certain points.

While there are several key emotional moments throughout the film, there are also points that are not explained. Albert is refused for the army early on in the film for being too young, however, he eventually ends up fighting in the war. There is no explanation as to how Albert was let into the army or if enough time passed for him to finally be let in. This inconsistency does make you wonder if a key scene had been edited out and it is not the only time this occurs in the film. There are other times in which other characters are not as well developed making it difficult to understand the importance of a couple key scenes.

War Horse does have a great story and accurately displays how a single animal can be meaningful to so many people. This part of the movie is heartwarming and does leave the audience feeling like there was a story to be told. This is portrayed well but could have been pulled off a little bit better.

Grade: B