War Horse
War Horse Image
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Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 40 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 253 Ratings

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  • Summary: Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, War Horse begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. War Horse is one of the great stories of friendship and war—a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is arriving on Broadway next year. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history. (DreamWorks Pictures)

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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    Dec 26, 2011
    100
    Spielberg has been ridiculed for shooting his actors from below against impossibly Spielbergian skies and a denouement that lays the love on copiously. But there's nothing simpleminded about how he uses movie magic, as a spell to dispel nihilism, to save us from the worst of ourselves by summoning up the best.
  2. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Dec 22, 2011
    80
    It's very much an old-time moviegoing experience; the film could have been made in 1940, and that's a compliment.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Ian Freer
    Jan 9, 2012
    80
    War Horse is bold, exquisite family filmmaking in the grandest Hollywood tradition. Be warned: whether you're a hippophile or not, it's a four-hankie moviegoing experience.
  4. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    Dec 29, 2011
    60
    The result is a film that may stay in the mind's eye longer than it lingers in the heart.

See all 40 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 71 out of 114
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 114
  3. Negative: 27 out of 114
  1. darthgerber
    10
    War Horse is a beautifully crafted film with a soul stirring narrative. It manages to be both heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time. The audience empathizes with both the protagonist horse and all of the people who find themselves unexpectedly his caretakers.

    The story is engaging and entertaining, and the pacing is consistently good, and at times, brilliant. Visually, War Horse is striking. Warm and breathtaking vistas juxtaposed with the gritty realism of war. John Williams ' score doesn't disappoint, punctuating the film's emotional highs and lows with the perfection only such an auteur is capable of.

    Spielberg has created another epic cinematic winner, the like of which hasn't been seen since his Saving Private Ryan. Overall, a most enjoyable film and surely one of the year's best.    … Expand
  2. Bhawk
    8
    Spielberg's War Horse is an unabashedly old-time, feel-good flick done in the style of John Ford (How Green Was My Valley) from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Includes gorgeous cinematography, solid editing, a decent screenplay adaptation, acceptable acting, and a sweeping classic film score by five-time Oscar winner, John Williams. It would be pretty hard not to at least LIKE this one, and War Horse will be enjoyed by most anyone from ages 7 to 97. Grade = B+.… Expand
  3. Hfahmy
    5
    Beautifully shot movie, excellent scenery, attracting but its events are thinly related. The good point is the new actor, the war horse, no human did match him. The poor is the scenario , sometimes slow, other times fast, most of the time beyond logic, events are basically cut and paste, how, why, where, when, no answer. It is a lengthy movie that will attract you and bore you, over its course. The war horse is the prime motive, disregarding other cinematography logic and requirements. Anyhow it is worse seen, it is not a regrettable experience.… Expand
  4. canadada
    4
    Considering the 'budget', what a disappointment. Too saccharine, with shades of 'Gone With the Wind' over-the-top drama. Great story potential, but Spielberg failed to make this work - on child or adult level.… Expand

See all 114 User Reviews

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