War Horse

This is the story of a brave and amazing horse indeed.
A man squanders all of his hard earned money on a young wild horse, just so he can out bid his fairly mean landlord, Lyons, portrayed by David Thewlis (aka Professor Lupin). Ted Narracott now owns the horse, but thus he cannot make his rent and does nearly lose his farm. However, his son, Albert (a great debut from Jeremy Irvine) takes a huge shine to the horse whom he names Joey. Albert spends every waking moment with that horse and even manages to train him to pull a plow to plow a field so Lyons can give the family an extension. Joey plows the whole field, a new crop is planted but a nasty storm comes along to ruin everything. Then World War I arrives and desperate for the money, Ted takes the horse and sells Joey to the army. Albert is devastated, as any boy would be. He tries to join the army, but he's too young. It isn't until after he receives word that Joey's rider has died that he runs away and joins anyway. By the time Albert has joined, Joey has already switched hands. After pulling a German ambulance for some time, he finds himself in the arms of a lovely, but ill French girl named Emily who loves the horse (s) dearly. (There is another horse with Joey, named TopSod, a black beauty.) But soon these horses are also captured by some troops where they are forced to pull artillery up steep hills; the work is dangerous and the majority of the horses don't last long. But Joey survives, only to be caught in a nasty amount of barbed wire. Here a British soldier and a German soldier work to untangle him, and in the end, he gets to go home with the British one. Joey is taken to the hospital, where Albert is recovery from mustard gas and is temporarily blind. Joey has a wound in his leg and the doctor decides that he must be shot, as it will too much work to mend him. But then Albert discovers that this horse is Joey and proves it to everyone else. Joey is not killed, and heals. Yet, another hurdle remains, he is to be auctioned off once the war ends. Albert's squad digs up money for him so he can buy him back, but he is drastically outbid by an elderly French man (Niels Arestrup) so he can have something to remind him of his granddaughter, Emily. Fortunately, a scarf found on Joey belonged to Albert's father, and thus the grandfather changes his mind, after all it was what his granddaughter would have wanted. Albert and Joey return home, to his parents.
Now, though the film is good, with its realistic set and natural lighting add to authenticity of the film, the play still manages to be better. Having seen the play in London (where it originated), where the horses are fantastic puppets instead of being real, the film changes many aspects of the plot, trying to make it seem more epic. Others work, while others simply make the film a whole mess. Emily isn't ill in the play, and Joey is not put up for auction after the war, he just gets to go home with Albert. The character of Lyons also does not exist; instead, he is replaced with Ted's brother, who also tries to buy Joey. On stage, the scene stealing goose is also much more effective, constantly trying to get in the house, where as in the film, it is a watch goose, who does get in the house. The mother (Emily Watson in the film) is a much more powerful character, spitting her lines at her husband with fiery emotion, while Watson does well in the film, though her character is largely limited which is unfortunate. The film does contain some great performances, mainly from Jeremy Irvine, but the supporting players, including Tom Hiddleton and Benedict Cumberbatch are also good to watch. For the final word, the play lost points because the German and French characters said their lines in their native language, confusing me, while the film had the same characters speak their lines in English, ruining the authenticity of the film. The lines should have been said in the proper language with subtitles. Still, the film is good, but the horse steals the show, just as it was intended. Grade: B+