War Horse (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Steven Spielberg. Starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis.
An epic masterpiece of nauseating melodrama.
In a rural corner of England shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, the son of a poor farmer and his father become enamored with a young thoroughbred horse and purchase it with some of the family's last money. The film is the story of that horse as it passes between owners in the midst of the war.
The animal comes to be called a "miracle horse" for its tendency to survive while everyone around it is horribly killed. Maybe they should consider the possibility that this horse is up to something.
War Horse is grand in scale, beautifully shot, and nicely paced: one of the few two-and-a-half hour movies that doesn't feel like a two-and-a-half hour movie.
It's refreshing, too, to see a film take on the underused setting of WWI, especially under the care of someone with Spielberg's pedigree at war films. A relatively short segment set in the trenches is the strongest portion of the movie.
But this is not Saving Private Ryan. War Horse belongs to that wretched mutant of a genre known as the family war film, and it screams its intentions from its opening shot. Any hint of introspection or subtlety is banished by Spielberg's heavy-handed direction and John Williams' overwhelming musical score. The film demands that your heart be warmed as swelling string sections and mobs of teary-eyed extras assure us that the toppling of every minor obstacle is a triumph of the spirit.
The characters don't so much talk to one another as holler inspiration over the noise of the orchestra-things along the lines of "Get it done, Alby! Get it done." (Note that shouting something from a distance and then repeating it quietly to yourself makes anything sound uplifting: e.g. "You clean that septic tank, George! You clean that septic tank for us all.")
To someone with a shriveled, grinch-like heart like mine, this kind of dripping-wet sentimentality burns like holy water. But it's not only the bitter and jaded who should be repulsed; War Horse's fake and forced affections are outshone by plenty of big-budget epics that came by their emotions honestly. More than a few of those films were made by Spielberg himself.
War Horse is a fraud, but a brilliant one. While it may not be a great movie, there's no denying it's a good one.
Rated PG-13 for suspicious horse-related deaths.
3.5 out of 5
We Bought a Zoo (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Cameron Crowe. Starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church.
Charming, if unexciting, family movie inspired by a zoo owner's memoirs.
A few months after his wife's death, writer Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) purchases a rundown zoo in the country in an attempt to make a fresh start with his two children.
Viewers can take comfort in knowing exactly what to expect going into We Bought a Zoo. (The title is one big clue). This is a standard-issue family film in which the youngest kid will be as face-meltingly adorable as possible, the teenager will be moody and irritating, and the widowed father will find new love by the end. A zoo will be involved. There will be no surprises.
But within that framework, We Bought a Zoo crafts a solid enough story.
It wisely focuses on the people instead of the animals (none of which are wacky, sassy, or accompanied by sound effects in any way). The narrative is more about hard work and coping with setbacks than it is about magical providence. And even if the ending is deliriously happy, it reaches that point via a path that feels more or less real. The film is more believable than "true" stories usually are.
Rated PG for questionable bear-wrangling tips.
4 out of 5
