This is a curious movie. Spielberg has created something that is both unique and stereotyped. I liked the movie, but it was a bit of a disappointment. I thought it was good, but not particularly great. It features a few breathtaking scenes, but as a whole feels a little bit contrived and light.

Writing: The titular War Horse serves as something of a thread to tie together a handful of story vignettes. As a concept, I would actually expect this to work better than it does. The problem is that the stories are only mildly fleshed out, and most of them don’t resonate quite as well as they should. Long stretches of scenes are given to single points in time, but not enough is given to the stories as a whole. For instance, the scene of the horse learning to plow the fields may be well produced, but it drags out a bit too much and shorts other more deserving story elements of time. I’m not entirely sure if it’s a scripting problem or an editing one (if it’s an editing one, there’s the possibility of a heck of a longer extended cut of the film). Overall, a marginally acceptable script, but I would have sent it back for some more rewrites.

Production: Very little to complain about in the production department. That’s hardly a surprise given its pedigree. Some of the movie is given a stylish hyper-real vista to play out against (the farm scenes in the beginning stand out in particular). Other parts are given a grittier approach (the war material, obviously). There’s actually not a great number of World War I based movies (nowhere near what World War II has), so it’s always interesting to see somebody of Spielberg’s caliber take it on. It doesn’t disappoint. There aren’t many battlefield scenes in the movie, but the ones that are there make them count. Easily the best and most impressive sequence in the film is a major set piece of the horse freaking out and running all over the battlefield of The Somme (for you history buffs, you know what a horrendous nightmare that battlefield was). This sequence is one of the most impressive individual scenes I’ve seen this year.

Cast: Filled with mostly unknown and more character actor types, the cast does a good enough job. There’s not much worth of awards level attention, but it’s all solid enough. Some of it is perhaps a little over earnest, but it holds together well enough to not cross a line of being maudlin or silly.

Music: Composer John Williams continues his legendary career collaboration with Steven Spielberg. He seems to be unofficially retired aside from working on Speilberg’s films these days, so it’s great to get any new material from him. This may not be one of his career best, but it’s certainly a solid score with some lovely orchestration and thematic material.