I saw War Horse opening weekend with my brother, who is the kind of person who does not cry at movies. We both cried. We did not speak about it in the car. About a year later he said, “I was not ready for the plowing scene.” I said, “Nobody was.” That is the entire review. Spielberg made a WWI horse picture that works because he has not lost the muscle memory of how to make you care about a horse. The second half is a slow walk through every horror of the Western Front. The horse survives. So do you. Barely.
The horse on screen: Joey, fourteen horses, and the eye line
Joey is played by fourteen different horses across the film. Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz KamiÅ„ski rigged a camera at horse-eye height, which gives the film its signature close-ups. The horses were chosen for their eye shape and their willingness to hold still under lights. They cast the horses first, then the humans, which is the right call. The horse’s eye catches the camera the way Brando used to. There is no performance. There is just an animal looking back at you.
The plot: a horse sold to the army, an owner who cannot let go
Albert Narracott, played by Jeremy Irvine in his first film role, raises Joey from a foal on his Devon farm. Albert’s father, played by Peter Mullan, sells Joey to the British Army at the outbreak of WWI because the family needs the money. Albert promises Joey he will find him. The rest of the film is Joey’s journey through the war, passed from cavalry captain to French farmer to German grandfather to a British private. Albert enlists at sixteen to find his horse.
Best Points, Weaker Points, and Audience Fit
Best: The opening twenty minutes on the Devon farm. The cavalry charge. The scene in no-man’s-land between British and German soldiers. John Williams’ score. The reunion scene.
Weaker: Jeremy Irvine’s accent wobbles. The supporting human cast is sketch-thin by design, so some war vignettes feel schematic. The film occasionally tells you when it should be showing you.
Audience fit: Families with kids 10 and up, viewers who like Spielberg without the cynicism. Not for under-9s in the war half. Not for viewers allergic to sentiment.
Animal movie review War Horse: my verdict
★★★★☆. War Horse is not Spielberg’s best film. It is one of his most generous. If you want a War Horse review without a star-rating hedge, here is the truth: this is a beautifully made, sometimes manipulative, occasionally devastating family-friendly animal movie that earns its emotions honestly. Watch it with someone you trust.
Older kids yes, younger kids no. The first hour is gentle. The second hour depicts WWI combat in unflinching detail, including trench warfare, barbed wire, and at least one scene that genuinely upset my 11-year-old niece. The PG-13 rating is honest.
It is based on the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, inspired by stories of WWI cavalry horses. The specific horse Joey is fictional. The war is not. The film’s historical detail, including the use of horses in early-WWI cavalry charges before mechanized warfare, is accurate.
Fourteen horses played Joey across the film, plus additional horses for the cavalry scenes. The horses were trained for months and filmed with a custom camera rig at horse-eye height. No horses were harmed in production.
He saw the stage adaptation in London in 2008 and was so moved he bought the film rights the next morning. The film is in part a tribute to his father, who served in WWII and told him stories about the animals used in combat.
