War Horse tells the tale of a horse (duh) that is used in World War II and is sort of a tribute to the forgotten animals of the war. The story plays out straightforwardly. We follow a horse through its life up till the end of the war.

The movie starts out right at the beginning: a horse being born and a young lad who watches on happily at the thought of one day owning that horse. The movie proceeds with the horse’s upbringing and it being eventually sold at market to a drunken farming man who spent far more than he could afford on the horse that he thought was worth every cent. But unfortunately…the young stallion isn’t much of a work horse.
The wife of this drunken farmer is upset and the landlord threatens to toss the family out if the farmer can’t produce rent from the harvest. But the farmer’s son is happy. Because he’s the boy who watched the horse be born.
Anyway, the movie plays out from there. The boy and the horse develop a close bond with one another, the horse does work in the field, but then disaster strikes in a violent storm that destroys the crops and the chance of ever getting rent paid. And then war strikes the country. Horses are needed for the soldiers and the army is paying a very good price for young stallions.
Having no other options, the farmer decides to sell his son’s horse (because that’s how it worked out) to pay rent to not lose his home, much to his son’s dismay. The son tries everything to convince the commanding officer to let him have his horse, but the officer says that he can’t do that and eventually takes the horse with him off to war.
The rest of the movie plays out as the horse moves from one war camp to another and the movie does a good job of keeping the audience entertained throughout. The people the horse meet all have unique stories and the movie does a good job telling you those stories. The action is fierce at times, and it drops off at times to take a more emotional tone at times as well, which creates a good balance for the movie.
All in all, War Horse is a great movie that’s bound to entertain you at least once and I highly recommend it.













