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If The Adventures of Tintin harkens back to Spielberg’s Raiders for inspiration, one could look for precedents for War Horse in E.T. and Saving Private Ryan. It would be truer, though, to say that in War Horse Spielberg harkens back to an earlier cinematic age, creating something more like a Golden Age Hollywood epic than any film I’ve seen in years, the one other notable example being Baz Luhrmann’s Australia.
Like Australia, War Horse combines the rugged, sprawling beauty of a classic Western with epic wartime saga. Based on the 1982 children’s novel by British author Michael Morpurgo as well as the award-winning 2007 stage play, War Horse is a World War I–era tale about an English farm lad named Albert (Jeremy Irvine) who forms a powerful bond with a Thoroughbred horse named Joey that his erratic father Ted (Peter Mullan) impulsively buys at auction.
The family can’t afford such a fancy animal, and Joey isn’t the right sort of animal for farm labor anyway—but Albert’s determination and the horse’s heart overcome formidable obstacles, and for awhile the future looks brighter. But then Albert’s father is obliged to sell Joey to a British officer heading overseas, and Albert, not yet old enough to volunteer, is parted from his beloved beast.
The handling of this episode is typical of one of the aspects of War Horse I most appreciate. When an upper-class British officer takes a poor farm boy’s beloved horse, convention dictates that the officer be arrogant, cruel, or at least indifferent to the boy’s pain. Instead, this officer is an utterly decent and sensitive chap—one who apologizes to the boy, acknowledges that the horse is worth far more than he’s able to pay, and gives his word to give the horse back upon his return if he is able to do so.
Although it’s probably no spoiler to say that the officer’s promise doesn’t pan out, he does prove his good intentions by going above and beyond the call of duty to keep the boy apprised of Joey’s condition. This is typical of the film’s humanism, which extends also to Germans, both officers and young boys in uniform.
The first World War was a fairly pointless war, but War Horse honors the way that men on all sides shared a common commitment to the same rules of engagement, and a common humanity deeper than their political and military cross purposes. Not that there isn’t brutality and horror too—both toward humans and toward animals—though not necessarily too intensely depicted for children who have reached double digits. Still, War Horse doesn’t reduce men, or war, to the lowest common denominator.
There is a wonderful scene, reminiscent of the 1914 Christmas truce depicted in Joyeux Noel, in which soldiers on opposite sides must come together for a common humanitarian purpose. What is wonderful about the scene is not only why they come together, but how they interact. Even more moving is a later scene in which a supporting character who has almost as much reason to love Joey as Albert makes a supremely difficult sacrifice, one that costs him in a way even more than Albert giving up Joey.
Likewise, I appreciate the loyalty mixed with the fury of Joey’s mother Rose (Emily Watson) at her weak, drink-prone husband Ted. Though she rightly blames him for bringing the family to the brink of ruin, she simultaneously defends him to their son, putting her husband’s weakness in the context of the horrors he faced in the Boer War, and the strength he has shown in not breaking completely. Rose’s response to her husband, when he shamefacedly confesses his fear of the day when she will no longer love him, is one of the most beautiful and terrible things I’ve ever heard: “I may hate you more,” she tells him, “but I’ll never love you less.”
For all its gorgeous cinematography and humane themes, War Horse isn’t entirely satisfying. The novel told the story from Joey’s point of view. A writer can take us inside an animal’s head; a live-action film can’t do that (except through voiceovers, a risky move). Spielberg doesn’t try. Joey is a magnificent, intelligent animal (a little too intelligent at times, as when he comes to the aid of another horse with whom he has bonded), but in the end his liquid gaze is as impenetrable as any animal. We can feel for him, but he doesn’t provide the emotional center that a human protagonist would do.
Somehow, though, the sum of the parts are more than the whole. I appreciate the film for its bits and pieces, and for its consummate craft. It is a film of a kind we don’t see any more, that it would be good to see more of.
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I think I shall enjoy “War Horse” in that it doesn’t t look or appear to be stereotypical. It’s lush, touching and moving. I haven’t seen a movie in a theatre since “Gladiator”; I may make an exception with this movie.
As for “Tin Tin,” that animated boy looks positively CREEPY. I wish movie makers would go back to making films featuring real PEOPLE (NOT blue people or animated characters posing as people or those CREEPY, UGLY Japanese animated characters). Also, please make movies with less s violence and explosions. Not everyone who attend a movie is 15, male and pimplyy-faced.
I had the good fortune of seeing “War Horse” last night, and was deeply moved. It speaks poignantly and respectfully of values we don’t see often in films anymore—family, loyalty, courage, honor—and does it with an intelligence and artistry that are truly rare. I never expected that watching an animal learn to plow a field in the pouring rain would give me a lump in the throat—but Spielberg did it to me. It’s also a movie that is made for the big screen, with a great love for all that entails.
“War Horse” captured my imagination when I first saw the incredible puppet-horses for the Broadway production. My family is looking forward to seeing this film.
I want to give Rosemary a hearty hear-hear on her comments re:contemporary animation in today’s films. When I first saw the trailer for “Tin Tin” on television I thought it was a cheesy fish stick commercial. What were Steven & PJ thinking?
Mr. Greydanus, would you recommend Tintin overall? My family is looking for a good movie to see over the Christmas holidays and are trying to decide between Tintin and Arthur Christmas.
As to motion-capture animation, I must confess to enjoying Christmas Carol and even parts of Polar Express. Motion-capture has a place in cinema, but on the whole I think I do prefer more traditional methods.
Deacon Greg: Thanks for your comments.
Flash: I also “confess to enjoying A Christmas Carol and even parts of Polar Express.” I can’t quite recommend The Adventures of Tintin, but I don’t dis-recommend it either. I’ll be calling it a C, I think. Maybe C-plus. I dunno.
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed TinTin, especially Captain Haddock who was the real protagonist in the whole business. You don’t like his perpetual drunkenness, but I thought it made a very nice character arc for him, right through the villain’s defeat.
And as far as kids go, I took my 3 year old and he loved almost every minute of it, double for any scene with pirates.
GeekLady: I’m happy to be disagreed with, and happy that you and your boy enjoyed it. I would even be happy to discover on rewatching it that I disagree with myself. I don’t harbor The Adventures of Tintin any ill will. It just didn’t grab me.
This was a fine movie for all but small children. Most of the carnage of the Great War W.W.-One in the film occurs offscreen to both horses and soldiers and civilians alike.Good old fashioned Hollywood epic type film.
I found it impossible to maintain interest in or engagement with _War Horse_. The characters made an amazing number of terrible horse-related decisions, and had the worst luck in the world on top of it. I was drawn in by the Germans’ spectacular reversal of a British cavalry charge, but that was it, and I was cracking up and whispering snide comments for pretty much the rest of the movie. (The theater was almost empty: word of mouth is having its effects.) It felt like what rumor says the Lifetime Channel feels like. It was a shame to see such impressive craft deployed in service of such an idiotic plot…
Also, the Germans didn’t treat horses anything like the way in which they did in the movie. In both World Wars, Germany was extremely dependent on horse transport, and you can’t do horse transport if you kill your horses in the process—horses are easier to get than trucks, but they don’t exactly grow on trees. The Germans also used significant numbers of horse cavalry in WWI, but kept them off the Western Front after the Schlieffen Plan failed—they were more useful in the Eastern Front’s wide-open spaces than in the Western Front’s trench warfare.
Still, compared to other movies (and to WWI propaganda!), the Germans come out of this movie looking pretty good.
While war is distasteful for humans and horses, this was a moving story. That horse had “heart” and I thought it was all well done. The horse stole the movie - is it possible to give an Oscar to a horse? This horse was also in Seabiscuit. We have so much to learn from our animal friends - and this movie did just that. I was moved. I’m so sorry that it didn’t do it for you….........
From Part 1:
“As drawn by Hergé, Tintin exists in a near-perpetual state of excitement, dismay, agitation, curiosity, wonder, apprehension, confusion and/or delight. Although he is always having adventures and never backs down from a challenge, he seems to be always on the brink of being overwhelmed. His mouth is a little “o” of alarm.”
## Perfectly stated. This conveys the atmosphere of the books very well. I’ve not seen the film, but the extracts from it I have seen just do not look right. That kind of animation works very well for “Ratatouille” - but for a character who already exists as a coloured cartoon, it just does not fit.
I agree with your criticisms against “Tintin” but those issues definitely didn’t stop me from enjoying the film, even as someone who read all the Tintin books the Wines Elementary School library had on the shelves (somewhere between 10 and 20 of them). The motorcycle chase sequence is one of the best action sequences I’ve seen all year (along with the “Super 8” train crash, but I haven’t seen “Ghost Protocol” yet). I was, however, bummed that Professor Calculus wasn’t in it. Maybe he’ll be in the sequel.
We are big TinTin fans here and everyone really enjoyed the film (both of us parents as well as kids age 16, 13,and 11). It didn’t follow the exact plot of any of the 3 books that it takes things from, but it was still ‘true’ to them. The faces of the main characters were somewhat flat - but reminiscent of the print characters in that sense. The graphics overall were simply amazing—many elements look completely real. It’s not perfect, but we definitely recommend it!! (And for TinTin fans, there are many little enjoyable bits to enjoy)
Re: TinTin: WTF ? - Mr.Greydanus, U have serious issues don’t U !
What is ur problem ? Myself & everyone I have talked to absolutely LOVE this movie ! Sure, I can understand from a tintin purist POV that it doesn’t quite cut it faithfully, in the translation of the plots from the original books, but Blistering Blue Barnacles !! - R U completely anal or what !?? If U want the quaint little art work of the books - fine ! - then do us all a favour & stick to the books, - cos’ quite obviously, U were biased against a big budget animation version from the get go ! - No matter who was behind it, or how it was produced, or what animation techniques were used ! Normally I quite like ur reviews, but this time You’ve lost it ! U come across as a foaming at the mouth purist, who hates anybody daring to mess with his cherished boyhood memories of tintin ! Having a Midlife Baby-boomer Crises are we !!?? Deadset just get over UR self !!
Happy New Year, Steven. I am a long-time reader of your movie reviews making, I think, my first comment. I always appreciate your insights on movies, but I have to disagree with you on “The Adventures of Tintin”. I saw it with my eight-year-old son over the holidays and we were both delighted. Maybe not too surprising since most years he picks the latest cheap-TV-based-anime-toy-marketing-tie-in that passes for a movie, so even a middling effort by a director like Spielberg is bound to look good in comparison, and I went in with low expectations based on your review. However, I found the movie enchanting in its own right. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is a good comparison. I was moved by Captain Haddock’s character arc, seeking redemption in spite of personal weakness and failure. Overall, the movie was an excellent re-introduction to the world of Tintin. While I have always admired the comics’ art, the wordiness of the English translations has left me cold the few times I’ve tried reading one. The movie brought the characters to life and made them interesting to me for the first time.
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