I
don't remember the last time I held my breath in a movie and though I
saw the "War Horse" movie this afternoon I don't remember how long the
sequence of Joey escaping/running lasted but it is burned in my mind.
Another scene that is still with me, and you have to see the movie to
tell me whether I am right or wrong, is the last 10-15 minutes of which
the colors, the images, are straight out of "Gone With The Wind"!

Steven
Spielberg is the ultimate filmmaker who tells a story, written by Lee
Hall and Richard Curtiss, that holds the audience from beginning to end
along with manipulating that audience. He has made a film for people
that hate war and love animals. I don't know how many different horses
played Joey but they are all beautiful, muscular and towering animals.
With Spielberg directing  the story based on the novel by Michael
Morpurgo, along with the photography of Janusz Kaminski, not to negate
the soaring score by John Williams, "War Horse" is a definite winner.

The
large cast consists of old timers, new comers, names you know, faces
you recognize, all doing what is asked of them and that is to tell an
old fashioned story in a straight forward way. For whatever reason,
watching Emily Watson I was reminded of Jean Simmons, both being fine
impressive actresses.

The
only negative is that, like most Spielberg's movie, this one is a
little too long--2 hours and 30 minutes--which could have easily been
shortened with a few of the opening atmosphere scenes plus a few of the
war shots.

This
is the third movie in one week I have seen that featured animals,
almost as co-stars, from Solomon the lion in "We Bought a Zoo", Uggie in
"The Artist" and now Joey in "War Horse", all very commanding in their
scenes. Due to the fact that this is a war movie there is violence that
is intense and might horrify a young child seeing it--especially a field
of dead horses--but that same child, like me, will fall in love with
Joey and Topthorn, another horse.

The bottom line is that if you aren't touched by this film get to a cardiologist as you may have lost your heart!