WAR HORSE is basically your young man gets a horse, loses the horse, and journeys to get his horse back story.  It is also a journey through the eyes of a horse set against the early 20th century before the first World War and during the horrible war in Europe.  The horse named Joey meets many different people along his journey and everyone is touched by the horse except those who see the horse as just a commodity in the war.   Spielberg does provide a sweeping tale that can be enjoyed by the entire family, but I think THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN is the better of the two Spielberg films that came out last year.

SPECIAL FETAURES:

Blu-ray disc 1 has two featurettes:

WAR HORSE: THE JOURNEY HOME-  Director Steven Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy, Spielberg's editor, the scriptwriter, and some of the cast look back at the making of the film in this round table chat

AN EXTRA'S POINT OF VIEW-   go behind-the-scenes with one of the extras on the film as you learn that some extras play several different background characters during the film

Blu-ray disc 2 has over 70 minutes of extras:

A FILMMAKING JOURNEY-   an hour plus look at the making of WAR HORSE from production into post-production with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage

EDITING & SCORING- a short featurette that looks at the editing and scoring of WAR HORSE

THE SOUNDS OF WAR HORSE- a look at how they put together the sounds and edited the sounds for the film

THROUGH THE PRODUCER'S LENS-  Kathleen Kennedy shares some of the photos she took during the production with her own commentary

The DVD has one featurette-

WAR HORSE: THE LOOK- shooting in Dartmoor and the United Kingdom, costume design, and production design (using an old airfield to turn into No Man's Land- the trenches of World War One)

The fourth disc is the digital copy of the movie.

FINAL ANALYSIS:  WAR HORSE is an emotional journey for the audience, a horse, and the young man who gains the horse, loses him, and takes a trip into the hells of war to be reunited with his horse.  THE JOURNEY HOME featurette is the best extra in the set while I wish they had a more reflective making-of documentary.

this review is (c)4-5-2012 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com