.......which is Oscar nominated this year for Best Picture and, although there were some worthwhile and interesting parts, I was disappointed in this offering from Steven Spielberg.
The Link
Spoilers ahead!!!!!
After appreciating "Saving Private Ryan" and other Spielberg films on multiple levels, I was almost completely underwhelmed by "War Horse."
Spielberg didn't write this screenplay and I now understand it's adapted from a stage play that's from a children's book.
Which explains a lot.
As a adult, I found the story very clichéd, increasingly uninteresting, lacking in both pathos (diminishing sympathetic appeal) and denouement (simplistic dramatic structure) and less and less moving (after an OK beginning) than were either of the two movies that Hollywood's made about the racehorse Seabiscuit or such eternally esteemed equine flicks as "National Velvet," "Black Beauty," "Secretariat," "The Black Stallion," "The Horse Whisperer" or even "My Friend Flicka."
And it was long.
In a film depicting deadly trench warfare, German machine guns and poison gas, it pretty much downplayed and really glossed over the gruesomeness, strategic pointlessness and sanguinary aspects of such static combat in WWI with an unlikely tale that, IMO, wasn't particularly well told.
To be fair, this sanitation of warfare allowed a PG-13 rating, which must have been exactly what they wanted in order to reach the audience they'd targeted.
The horse in the title role was quite talented, well-trained and well-filmed.
And the cavalry charge was cool.
However, for uncensored and less attenuated adult viewing of ground combat during the first world war, check out Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory," Mel Gibson in "Gallipoli" and "All Quiet on the Western Front" or, if you're looking for a good WWI movie very suitable for young people that's high on excitement, low on gore and full of American values in a completely true story which should keep even jaded teenagers interested, rent "Sergeant York" starring Gary Cooper.
I simply wasn't in whatever target audience "War Horse" was aimed at.
Duh!!!
Something like "Benji the War Dog," was probably intended and, if so, achieved.
Because this was a Disney-like animal adventure movie designed for young or squeamish moviegoers.
And that's OK.
I should have taken my grandkids, although 2 hours and 26 minutes is really long for any children's movie,
But, for myself, recalling how the same director so vividly, dramatically and by using unforgettable visual and aural realism inserted and involved me and Tom Hanks at the D-Day landings in WWII, here to my displeasure Spielberg was just horsing around.
Your thoughts?
The Link
Spoilers ahead!!!!!
After appreciating "Saving Private Ryan" and other Spielberg films on multiple levels, I was almost completely underwhelmed by "War Horse."
Spielberg didn't write this screenplay and I now understand it's adapted from a stage play that's from a children's book.
Which explains a lot.
As a adult, I found the story very clichéd, increasingly uninteresting, lacking in both pathos (diminishing sympathetic appeal) and denouement (simplistic dramatic structure) and less and less moving (after an OK beginning) than were either of the two movies that Hollywood's made about the racehorse Seabiscuit or such eternally esteemed equine flicks as "National Velvet," "Black Beauty," "Secretariat," "The Black Stallion," "The Horse Whisperer" or even "My Friend Flicka."
And it was long.
In a film depicting deadly trench warfare, German machine guns and poison gas, it pretty much downplayed and really glossed over the gruesomeness, strategic pointlessness and sanguinary aspects of such static combat in WWI with an unlikely tale that, IMO, wasn't particularly well told.
To be fair, this sanitation of warfare allowed a PG-13 rating, which must have been exactly what they wanted in order to reach the audience they'd targeted.
The horse in the title role was quite talented, well-trained and well-filmed.
And the cavalry charge was cool.
However, for uncensored and less attenuated adult viewing of ground combat during the first world war, check out Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory," Mel Gibson in "Gallipoli" and "All Quiet on the Western Front" or, if you're looking for a good WWI movie very suitable for young people that's high on excitement, low on gore and full of American values in a completely true story which should keep even jaded teenagers interested, rent "Sergeant York" starring Gary Cooper.
I simply wasn't in whatever target audience "War Horse" was aimed at.
Duh!!!
Something like "Benji the War Dog," was probably intended and, if so, achieved.
Because this was a Disney-like animal adventure movie designed for young or squeamish moviegoers.
And that's OK.
I should have taken my grandkids, although 2 hours and 26 minutes is really long for any children's movie,
But, for myself, recalling how the same director so vividly, dramatically and by using unforgettable visual and aural realism inserted and involved me and Tom Hanks at the D-Day landings in WWII, here to my displeasure Spielberg was just horsing around.
Your thoughts?
