Tuesday, June 12, 2012

"War Horse" - I Should Have Known . . .

We received the movie "War Horse" from Netflix several weeks ago, but life has been just too much lately and with the NCAA softball and baseball tournaments under way, we hadn't had time to watch it until Sunday afternoon.

This movie is a strange combination of Disney and Spielberg, although the latter is responsible.  The story is wildly unbelievable.  We follow a fictional horse from the day it's born.  It doesn't look good for the horse until he is bought by a poor farmer whose son has always adored the colt.  He names his horse Joey.  So far this is Disney.  

Then World War I breaks out and throughout the British countryside young men are volunteering and the army is looking for horses.  Dad sells Joey to be a war horse.  Now the Spielberg begins.  I won't spoil the story for you if you haven't seen it and still want to, but the rest of the movie is just plain fairy tale with graphic details.  There are horrible scenes of cruelty to animals and civilians and soldiers; it is a war movie after all.  I should have known that those war scenes, although probably fairly realistic except for Joey's part in it, would be too much for me.  

If, like me, you can't bear to watch people and animals on the front lines of a brutal war, I suggest you pass on this movie.  If, unlike me, you can keep in mind that it's just a movie, maybe you'll want to try it.  This is merely my opinion, and fair warning.

5 comments:

  1. I thought this movie was pretty good, but couldn't understand why it was nominated for Best Picture. By the way, USC is going to win the baseball championship again! lol

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  2. Ummm, watch out for that Cinderella team, Stony Brook, from our America East Conference! :D

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  3. I'm so glad you told me this. Jim wanted me to add it to our Netflix queue, but even he wouldn't like the cruelty to animals!

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  4. I have this copy on hand from Zip, Barbara, and was worried about the war scenes. An acquaintance assured me there was nothing to worry about - even when I asked about cruelty to animals.

    I'm glad I read your review before I actually watched the movie. Thanks for the save!

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  5. I suppose many people wouldn't object to the treatment of animals in the movie because it fairly realistically depicts wartime in Europe. However, I felt some of it was gratuitous. It also was somewhat realistic about the horrible treatment of civilians by marauding soldiers. But then we have Disney-like touches where everyone who comes into contact with Joey the horse falls in love with him. I was either hiding my eyes or laughing hysterically because of the story.

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