warhorse christian movie review

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CHRISTIAN MOVIE REVIEW

By hannah goodwyn cbn.com senior producer.

CBN.com - Veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg creates a beautiful picture of the love between a boy and his beloved horse in his newest live-action film release, War Horse .

Based on a play that was based on Michael Morpurgo's book, War Horse is a powerful war epic made captivatingly personal. It’s simply about the journey of a boy and his horse during the tumultuous years of World War I Europe.

Starring a who’s who of up-and-coming British actors and theatrical veterans, Spielberg's film is a sweeping cinematic adventure that will stir the hearts of teenagers and adults alike this holiday season.

THE MOVIE IN A MINUTE

Young Albert is thrilled when he’s chosen to train his family’s new horse, which he names Joey. But, life for him and Joey is forever changed as the British cavalry comes to their small town enlisting soldiers and horses for service in the First World War. Joey’s adventures and struggles – as he rides for the British forces, is taken by German soldiers, cared for by a young French girl – are met with a hopeful longing to be with Albert again. Coming of age, Albert enlists in the war to find his beloved horse to bring him home.

THE GOOD AND BAD IN WAR HORSE

From the first moments, War Horse makes you feel like you’re about to embark on an epic adventure. Your guide is Joey, played by multiple horses, which are all filmed showing the most magnificent expressions, giving real emotion to his character. Do not expect this film to be fast-paced. Go in expecting you will witness great storytelling, and you will not be disappointed.

Director Steven Spielberg is a master cinematic storyteller and his crew and cast’s talents aren’t lost in War Horse . Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, whom has worked on all of Spielberg’s live-action films since Schindler’s List , beautifully captures the emotion of each moment. Composer John Williams musically captures the story's essence and screenwriters Lee Hall and Richard Curtis put the right words to the action.

War Horse is at its purest form is the portrayal of an unbreakable friendship with the dramatic backdrop of a war that is often overlooked in cinema. Spielberg creatively crafts this movie in such a ways as to show the utter desolation of war without making it unbearable to watch. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence, War Horse is not for young children. But, the director’s clever filming of the war scenes keep it from the R level and appropriate viewing for pre-teens and older.

The cast of War Horse is to be commended. Spielberg did well in casting inexperienced actor Jeremy Irvine in the lead role, as Albert. His performance brought a believability to the love between his character and Joey. Actors Emily Watson and Peter Mullan convincingly play Albert’s discouraged parents. Two secondary actors of note are Tom Hiddleston, whom moviegoers may recognize as Thor’s evil brother Loki from this summer’s blockbuster, and Toby Kebbell, who plays a Geordie solider during one of the film’s critical scenes. Though only on screen for a portion of the film, Hiddleston delivers a memorable performance as the charming Capt. Nichols, Joey’s caretaker during his cavalry days. Kebbell also completely engages your attention as the soldier who risks his life entering No Man’s Land to save Joey. His reciting of Psalm 23 and the incredible set design, lighting, and filming of that scene make it one of the most emotional moments of the movie.

Watching War Horse will remind you what it is is like to experience a film that is good on all accounts. The acting, script, set direction, photography and musical score all contribute to making War Horse one of the year’s best movies.

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• DVD & Streaming
• Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• December 25, 2011
• Jeremy Irvine as Albert; Peter Mullan as Ted Narracott; Emily Watson as Rose Narracott; Niels Arestrup as Grandfather; Tom Hiddleston as Captain Nicholls; Benedict Cumberbatch as Major Stewart; David Thewlis as Lyons; Celine Buckens as Emilie

Home Release Date

• April 3, 2012
• Steven Spielberg

Distributor

• Walt Disney

Movie Review

A bullet is beautiful when removed from its context, smooth and shiny and cool to the touch. It is simple yet elegant—its edges running upward to a point or a glinting, symmetrical hill. A child who didn’t know better might mistake it for a pocket-size spaceship, or a tiny tower when set on end.

They would not recognize it as a thief.

Yet thieves are exactly what bullets are. In the context of war, they rob countries of their men, men of their ideals, ideals of their virtue. They take breath and blood and thought, and let them lay in the mud of battle, scattered like shrapnel. They take sight and sound, life and limb, hope and courage.

And even if you safeguard all of that, there’s still one thing the wartime bullet will always take: innocence.

In beautiful, green, southwestern England, a horse is born. It is a beautiful beast, all grace and muscle and shiny coat. And, like beauty is wont to do at times, it makes a local farmer lose his head. Determined to own the animal (and show up his deep-pocketed landlord), Ted, the slightly tipsy farmer, overbids for the horse and brings him home instead of a good, sturdy plow horse. It’s as if you or I set out to buy a truck and came home instead with a Ferarri.

He’s gone and mortgaged the future for a pretty, worthless pony. But when the man sobers up and moves to put a bullet into the beast, his son Albert steps between the flesh of the animal and the bullet’s barrel.

“He’ll show you,” Albert says of the horse whom he’s named Joey. “We’ll show you. We’ll get it done.”

And they do. Thanks to Albert’s determination and the horse’s ability to adapt, Joey becomes the prettiest plow horse in all of Devonshire. Now, Albert tells his horse, they can be together, “Which is the way I think things were meant to be.”

And perhaps they would have been, too … had the calendar not said 1914 and the world not marched toward cataclysm. The war is coming. And when it arrives, it takes not the farmer, not the boy, but Joey, the big, beautiful horse in all his magnificence and innocence, the horse who’s known only harnesses and fields and apples from Albert.

Positive Elements

“It’s challenging to tell a story where you have to look at a horse and wonder what the horse is feeling from moment to moment,” director Steven Spielberg told USA Today . “But that’s why I wanted to direct this picture. You’re giving language to a horse based all on physical performance.”

Joey, the hero of War Horse , tells us volumes about the nature of war. There’s nothing glamorous or glorious about the conflict we see. And yet in the midst of it, we see the horse embody laudable human traits—even sacrificing his own potential well-being for that of a comrade. Spielberg uses the horse as something akin to a symbol—the vehicle in which we can see the horror of war, but the little ways in which we can rise above that horror.

His film has plenty of human heroes too. Albert is unfailingly kind to Joey—even as he pushes both himself and his horse to the breaking point to save the family’s farm. He longs to be a war hero, like his father was—and when he later goes off to war himself he indeed proves to be heroic. But by then, of course, he’d rather be back in Devon.

Albert’s father, for all his faults, does what he can to provide for his family. “He never gave up,” wife Rose says. “And he does it for us.” Rose stands by Ted in the thickest sorts of trouble, even if she’s exasperated by him at times. She also offers us a profound reason why Ted—who was honored in past British battles—never talks about his role in combat. “It’s good to be proud when you’ve done something good,” she says. “He refused to be proud of killing, I suppose.”

Joey changes hands several times throughout the film, and each of his caretakers manifests positive traits. When British officer Captain Nicholls buys Joey and realizes how important the horse is to Albert, he promises the boy he’ll bring him home safely if he can. Young French girl Emilie hides Joey and another horse, Topthorn, in her upstairs bedroom, keeping them out of sight from German soldiers. Two German brothers use Joey to tote an ambulance—saving him from being shot in the head. A German artillery worker risks his own freedom to save Joey. And when the horse gets tangled up in barbed wire in the infamous No Man’s Land between the French and German trenches, a British and German soldier form an unlikely temporary alliance to free the gallant creature.

Spiritual Elements

Joey is sometimes cast in a quasi-spiritual light. Albert confides in the animal, who’s called a “miracle horse” by soldiers, “I knew when I first saw you that you would be the one to save us.”

A soldier whispers the 23rd Psalm to himself as he traverses No Man’s Land. A commander rallies his troops before battle, saying, “Be brave. Fear God. Honor the king.” Ted bemoans his fate, telling his wife that he used to think that God gave each man his share of trials. But “I’ve had more than my share,” he concludes.

Sexual Content

None. Quips are made about the relative beauty of women in various countries.

Violent Content

World War I doesn’t get as much cinematic attention as its showier sequel, what with the latter war’s dynamic leaders and clear-cut bad guys. The “war to end all wars” was a complex, morally murky fight that left more than 15 million people dead (including around 7 million civilians). It was a brutal conflict, dominated by trench warfare and made more miserable by poison gas. War Horse , while not nearly as gory as it could be, doesn’t flinch from its inherent horrors.

Early on, we see a field of battle littered with dead horses and men. Topthorn gets pretty beaten up and broken down toward the end of the war, and Joey tears himself up something awful when he runs through the fields full of barbed wire. (He runs so fast that their tangles cause him to flip over, landing hard and painfully.) Characters frequently point guns at horses, preparing to shoot them, and we hear guns fired that apparently slaughter other horses.

Men suffer as well. We see many die in the course of the story, including two who are shot for deserting. Bodies go flying during explosions. Others are mowed down by rifle or machine gun fire. One soldier is told to stay behind and shoot anyone who retreats back to his home trench. One man gets wounded in the leg. Others are gassed. We see people who are missing limbs and have their eyes bandaged.

Albert is thrown from Joey over a fence. Someone’s knocked down by a horse. We learn that Emilie’s parents died in the war.

Crude or Profane Language

Characters say “b‑‑tard” and “h‑‑‑” twice each, along with British crudities “bloody” (two or three times), “b-gger” (at least four times) and “git” (once).

Drug and Alcohol Content

Ted drinks regularly, and sometimes gets drunk. Rose largely tolerates his drinking, explaining to Albert that he drinks to forget some of the things he saw during wartime. But she does take away the bottle shortly after Ted threatens to shoot Joey. Some days are better off forgotten , she tells him. This isn’t one of those days .

Whiskey and other alcoholic beverages make sporadic appearances elsewhere too.

Other Negative Elements

Emilie doesn’t always show complete respect for her clearly beloved grandfather, sometimes lightly joking in a way that prompts him to, also lightly, tell her to respect her elders.

“The war’s taking everything,” Grandfather says miserably. “And everyone.”

It took the horses too.

Britain sent more than 1 million horses to war between 1914 and 1918. Just 62,000 returned.

The lives of horses, neither then or now, are as valuable as the lives of men. And yet we’re so used to seeing men die on film that I wonder if we’ve become desensitized to their ends. I wonder if that’s why seeing animals in peril—horses, dogs, cats—sometimes moves us more. We simply don’t see it as often.

In War Horse , we witness the horrible toll that war indeed takes, on everything and everyone. Albert comes home from the front, but he comes home wiser and sadder. Grandfather loses nearly everything. Many others do not survive at all. Based on a children’s book written by Michael Morpurgo, War Horse is no sanitized story meant for youngsters. This is a story about lost innocence and the atrocities of war, told in sometimes heartbreaking fashion.

It’s also perhaps the most moving, beautiful and inspirational movie of the year.

In the midst of the terror, we see moments of heroism, self-sacrifice and love. In the midst of cruelty, we see demonstrated humanity—some of which, ironically, come from a horse. And as we look through the eyes of Joey and Albert, we catch a glimpse at how we too can push through the hard seasons that come to us all.

When Emilie surmises that her parents died in the war, she imagines they died bravely—fighting for what they believed in. Grandfather says that, yes, they were indeed very brave. Then Emilie—perhaps out of grief or anger, accuses her grandfather of being a coward. In response, Grandfather suggests that maybe there are different forms of courage, and he points to carrier pigeons—pigeons who, no matter what, always return home—as an example.

“Can you imagine flying over a war, and you know you can never look down?” Grandfather says. “You have to look forward. Or you’ll never get home.”

War Horse looks ever forward.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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War Horse review

Among the many themes that emerge or converge in the films of director, producer, writer Steven Spielberg are lonely children and war, specifically World War II. From the kids in “E.T”: the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) to the Oscar-winning “Schindler’s List” (1993),  a black and white film but viewers may remember the little Jewish girl in a red coat, waiting for transport to the Nazi death camps. And from “ The Color Purple ” (1985) for which he deserved an Oscar, to one of my personal favorite’s, this year’s “Super 8”, Spielberg captures lonely children, or children estranged from, or in tension with, their fathers, as none other.

“ Saving Private Ryan ” (1998), and the TV miniseries “Band of Brothers” (2001) and “Pacific” (2010) and back to cinema with “Letters from Iwo Jima” (2006), Spielberg draws the heartbreak of war with the pen of cinematic art as few others, perhaps none other. But I think with “War Horse”, opening in theaters on Christmas Day, is Spielberg’s take on the Academy Award winning 2009 film “The Hurtlocker”, his chance to show how war shreds humanity through the desperate courage and pain of a war horse.

“War Horse” is based on based on a 1982 children’s novel by Michael Marpurgo and has been made into a stage play in 2007 that friends have told me is extremely moving. It is estimated that millions of horses died in World War I from all the armies involved.

A few months before England declared war on Germany in 1914, a horse is born in Devon. Albert Narracott (Jeremy Divine), the only son and of  tenant farmers Ted (Peter Mullan) and Rose ( Emily Watson ). Ted goes to market to buy a workhorse, presumably a Clydesdale, but is enthralled with the strength and beauty of Joey. He spends money he does not have and takes the horse home, to the derision and disapproval of all except Albert.

Joey proves his worth by plowing an impossibly rocky field but the crop is lost in a rainstorm. When war is declared, soldiers come to the village to buy horses, and an officer promises Albert he will bring Joey home safe if he can.

Joey heads into war with the British soldiers, is lost to the Germans, taken in by a French farmer and his granddaughter but eventually ends up working the German transport lines with Topthorn, a black stallion also captured from the British army.

As the longest, most deadly war in history nears the end, Joey escapes from his cruel masters (though some wranglers were good to the horses) and in a heartbreaking sequence, wrapped in barbed wire, cut and bleeding, makes a run for it through no-mans-land. This is the films’ finest, most poignant, terrifying scene, that culminates with Germans and British units recognizing the transcendent strength of this noble steed, and changing them all, just for a moment.

There are elements of the film that won’t pass muster to the careful viewer. The crop that gets ruined is on a slope; my sister, who has a large garden, said the rain would have run off, not drowned the vegetables.  The crookedly plowed field turns into the perfectly furrowed plot from one scene to another. Albert, who eventually is old enough to go to war, is blinded by gas and then all of a sudden he can see but the audience does not get to see that moment. I wanted to see this because the characters were not well developed; the one with the most interesting potential was Rose, played by Emily Watson.

The film has been nominated for many awards for cinematography, that magical craft of bringing light and camera together, by Janusz Kaminski . Kaminski has worked on many Spielberg movies, winning Oscars for “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan”.  But I found the digital color “filming” to be over saturated making the characters seem almost as if they were motion-capture animation. Some of the staging of the scenes seemed to have been lifted right out of “Gone with the Wind” and “The Searchers”.

I think the dissonance I am feeling about the film is the extravagant production quality in 3D vis-à-vis a story that was more simple (as in less complex) than the huge production called for.

In the end, “War Horse” is about war and it is about the ways that animals can teach us to be more human. It’s too long, but it is inspiring. The horses, several were used for both Joey and Topthorn, will astonish you.

Everything in the film is true, and some of it did happen.

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No Need to Hoof It to See War Horse

• Christian Hamaker Contributing Film and Culture Writer
• Updated May 07, 2013

DVD Release Date: April 3, 2012 Release Date: December 25, 2011  Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of war violence) Genre: Drama, Adaptation, War Run Time: 146 min. Director: Steven Spielberg Actors: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Neils Arestrup, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Celine Buckens, Eddie Marsan, David Kross

Let’s not forget that movies are moving pictures, and that a great director teamed with a great director of photography can produce a great film. A great script is the ingredient needed for a masterpiece, but well directed, stunning visual work is sometimes enough to overcome shortcomings in the storytelling department.

Director Steven Spielberg and cinematographer Janus Kaminski have that kind of fruitful relationship. They first teamed on Schindler’s List  but are best known for their work together on Saving Private Ryan , particularly that film’s unforgettable version of the Allied assault on the beaches of Normandy, with Kaminski’s cameras giving the action an immediacy and you-are-there quality that made the sequence so impressive. Saving Private Ryan didn’t win the Best Picture Oscar—the prize that year went to Shakespeare in Love —but the director and cinematographer continued to work together on a list of memorable, if not always completely successful films: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence , Minority Report , Catch Me If You Can , The Terminal , War of the Worlds , Munich   and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull . That last film was their one bad misfire.

War Horse , adapted from a book by Michael Morpurgo that also served as the basis for a successful stage play, tells the story of an English farmer ( Peter Mullan ) and his son Albert ( Jeremy Irvine ), who bonds with a horse named Joey. The father, increasingly desperate as he faces the loss of his farm, sells Joey to a military man, Captain Nicholls ( Tom Hiddleston ), who promises Albert he’ll take good care of the animal. The captain even promises to return Joey to Albert one day, if possible. Nicholls becomes the primary human character in the story as he takes Joey into World War I, where the British troops are confronted by German guns and other modern weaponry.

One of the problems with War Horse is that we’re meant to identify with the title character and his boy owner, but no sooner have we developed a bond with both than the rug is pulled out, and it’s on to Joey’s next owner. The reason the story follows Joey is, ostensibly, to learn about the people he comes into contact with, but there’s no underlying theme to Joey’s interaction with his human companions. Some of Joey’s owners are tender, some are brave, some see the horse as merely functional. What else would we expect?

Although the film runs too long, it’s never painful to watch, thanks to Kaminski’s grand image-making. Those images include not only stately scenes of Joey on the farm, but harrowing depictions of trench warfare. (While War Horse might hold some appeal for children, a sense of innocence and wonder comes through only in certain scenes, while significant portions of the film depict war violence that includes bombings, shooting and dead soldiers.) The film is respectful toward religion, with men calling on God to protect them during the battle and thanking him when the war has ended.

With so much going for it, War Horse should have been a more gripping experience. As it is, War Horse is not a particularly bad film, just a mediocre one. In light of who brought the story to cinematic life, that counts as a major disappointment. CAUTIONS :

• Language/Profanity:  “Bast-rd”; “ hell ”; “d-mn”; “good Lord”; “bugger me.”
• Alcohol/Smoking/Drugs:  A man drinks from a flask; an accusation that a man can’t afford to pay his landlord because he buys beer for his horses; man is said to drink in order to forget the mistakes he’s made.
• Sex/Nudity:  None.
• Violence/Crime:  Man kicked by horse; a gun is cocked; a man threatens another man with knitting needles; warfare includes swords, machine guns, other gunfire, bombs and explosions, with bodies seen flying through the air after bomb impact; a man is shot by a firing squad; orders given to shoot fleeing soldiers; dead soldiers shown; a horse is entangled in barbed wire; a tank runs over a horse.
• Religion: A character says he used to believe that God gave each man his share of bad luck, but he no longer believes that; a war cry: “Fear God! Honor the king!”; a man says, “God and the king will keep an eye on you”; a man prays the  Psalms 23 ; a man says, “Thank God for the end of this struggle. And victory.”         

Questions? Comments? Contact the writer at [email protected] .

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The closing shots of Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" will stir emotions in every serious movie lover. The sky is painted with a deeply red-orange sunset. A lone rider is seen far away on the horizon. The rider approaches and dismounts. He embraces a woman and a man. They all embrace the horse's head. Music swells. This footage, with the rich colors and dramatic framing on what is either a soundstage or intended to look like one, could come directly from a John Ford Western.

It is Spielberg's homage, I believe, to Ford and to a Hollywood tradition of broad, uplifting movies intended for all audiences. The performances and production values throughout the film honor that tradition. "War Horse" is bold, not afraid of sentiment and lets out all the stops in magnificently staged action sequences. Its characters are clearly defined and strongly played by charismatic actors. Its message is a universal one, about the horror of war in which men and animals suffer and die, but for the animals there is no reason: They have cast their lot with men who have betrayed them.

The movie, based on a best-selling novel and a long-running London and New York stage production, begins on a small family farm in the English county of Devon. We meet young Albert Narracott ( Jeremy Irvine ), his usually drunken but not unkind father, Ted ( Peter Mullan ), and his hard-working, loving mother, Rose (Emily Wat­son). Lyons ( David Thewlis ), the landowner, presses them for past-due rent.

There is a horse auction in the village. Ted's eye falls on a handsome horse named Joey, and he determines to outbid Lyons for it, even if it means spending all the rent money. Rose is distraught: He was meant to bring home a plow horse at a low price and has purchased a sleek thoroughbred. But Albert and Joey bond, and Albert trains the horse to accept a collar and plow their stony fields. Then World War I breaks out. Drunk as usual, Ted sells the horse to the Army. Albert vows he will see it again.

Now begins a series of self-contained chapters in Joey's life, as the horse passes from British to German hands, has a respite on a French farm and then finds itself helping to drag a cannon much too big for the team. All of this is embedded in front-line battle footage as realistic as we saw in the landing at Normandy in Spielberg's " Saving Private Ryan ." All wars are hell. Surely few were worse for private soldiers trapped in the muddy, cold, desolation of the trenches. Horses thrown into this satanic chaos were confused, terrified and sometimes driven mad.

Joey meets a series of masters, most of them on both sides men who respected horses. Yet war is no place for sentiment, and as an officer explains with brutal realism, a horse is a weapon and must either be used or destroyed. Surely some of the best footage Spielberg has ever directed involves Joey and other horses running wild outside the trenches, galloping in a panic through barbed wire lines and dragging wire and posts after them as their flesh is cruelly torn. There's one of those scenes of temporary truce when soldiers from both sides meet in No Man's Land to share wire-cutters and set the horses free.

All of this is magnificent. But it reduces the center of the film to a series of set pieces. The narrative thread is supplied by Joey, who is such a helpless protagonist that watching his adventures becomes painful — especially, I suspect, for younger viewers. A famous film by Robert Bresson , " Au Hasard Balthazar ," follows a humble donkey through years of good and bad times, and shows all of the events as implacable chapters in the book of its life. Bresson makes no attempt to elevate the donkey; its lot is the common lot of all dumb animals in a world of arbitrary cruelty.

Spielberg ennobles Joey and provides an ending for the film that is joyous, uplifting, and depends on a surely unbelievable set of coincidences. I suppose it must be that way for us to even bear watching such a story. I am reminded of " Schindler's List ." Six million Jews were exterminated in the World War II, but in focusing on a few hundred who miraculously survived, Spielberg made his story bearable. Among the horses of World War I, it can only be said that Joey's good luck was extraordinary.

The film is made with superb artistry. Spielberg is the master of an awesome canvas. Most people will enjoy it, as I did. But not included in the picture is the level of sheer hopeless tragedy that is everywhere just out frame. It is the same with life, and if you consider the big picture, all of us, men and beasts, have extraordinary good luck.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

War Horse (2011)

Rated PG for intense sequences of war violence

146 minutes

David Thewlis as Lyons

Niels Arestrup as Grandfather

Tom Hiddleston as Capt. Nicholls

Jeremy Irvine as Albert Narracott

Emily Watson as Rose Narracott

Peter Mullan as Ted Narracott

Based on the novel by

• Michael Morpurgo

Directed by

• Steven Spielberg
• Richard Curtis

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Warhorse one, common sense media reviewers.

Budget war movie has violence, death, occasional language.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Showing bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Mirko is a skilled soldier who utilizes his traini

Predominantly male cast with underwritten roles fo

Wartime setting. Frequent firefights. Death. Blood

Language used includes "s--t," "ass," "bitch," "f-

Parents need to know that Warhorse One is a predictable wartime drama about a rescue mission set in Afghanistan with plenty of violence and some strong language. The hero is elite Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko (Johnny Strong) who risks his life to save persecuted missionaries after the U.S. withdraws…

Positive Messages

Showing bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Protecting innocent people. Caring for your compatriots. The movie's main conflict is rarely discussed in any detail, though.

Positive Role Models

Mirko is a skilled soldier who utilizes his training to fight for survival and help others. The other characters only really exist to stop or support him.

Diverse Representations

Predominantly male cast with underwritten roles for the few female characters. Afghanistan-set drama shot in the United States. Afghan characters played by non-Afghan actors. Taliban insurgents are given little to do other than trying to kill the film's hero and fall into cultural stereotypes. Some ethnic diversity among supporting cast. More than one language spoken. Male writer and directing team.

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Violence & Scariness

Wartime setting. Frequent firefights. Death. Blood from fatal shooting shown on walls. Discussion of ethnic cleansing. Explosions. On-screen deaths. A helicopter is shot down from the sky.

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Language used includes "s--t," "ass," "bitch," "f----r," "f---ing," "bastard," "f--k," and "scum."

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Warhorse One is a predictable wartime drama about a rescue mission set in Afghanistan with plenty of violence and some strong language. The hero is elite Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko ( Johnny Strong ) who risks his life to save persecuted missionaries after the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan. The movie uses formulaic cliches to paint Mirko as a hero. He is a skilled marksman and works tirelessly to defend the lives of the people he's been sent to save, such as defenseless five-year-old Zoe (Athena Durner). The baddies on the other hand are generic terrorists whose motivation is referred to only as "cleansing." The violence is frequent with several shootouts including innocents being shot and killed by semi-automatic rifles and pistols. There are bloody wounds on some of the victims and multiple deaths. The roles of those killed isn't always clear. Swearing is less frequent, but does include variants of "f--k" in high-pressure situations. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

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What's the story.

WARHORSE ONE follows downed Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko ( Johnny Strong ) as he attempts to rescue a young child (Athena Durner) from the Afghanistan mountains while under attack from Taliban insurgents.

Is It Any Good?

This action drama takes a selective look at the facts surrounding the U.S.'s withdrawal from Afghanistan and uses it as a setup for a repetitive series of cat-and-mouse shootouts. Warhorse One is clearly something of a passion project for writer, co-director, and star Strong. Strong plays Master Chief Richard Mirko, whose mission to extract U.S. missionaries takes a tumble when his team's helicopter is shot out of the sky. He survives this, obviously, and thankfully has enough left in the tank to gun down black-robed baddies who seem to re-spawn like characters in a video game. Which is just as well, because there certainly isn't enough plot to fill the movie's exhausting two-hour runtime. Other cardboard-cutout characters include a five-year-old American innocent -- played by newcomer Durner -- whose missionary parents' idea of a semester abroad is open to question. Amid the fetishized violence and dubious cultural stereotypes, we're also expected believe that the Californian hillside setting is a mountainous range in the Middle East. This really is excessive, and suggests Strong might be better off pitching his next endeavor a little closer to home.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Warhorse One . Did you find it too intense or scary? Was it clear who Mirko was fighting and why? Do some types of media violence have different impact than others?

Discuss the movie's wartime setting. How much do you know about the war in Afghanistan? Did this movie help explain it? How to talk to kids about violence, crime, and war.

Discuss the language used in the movie. Did it seem necessary, or excessive? What did it contribute to the movie?

Talk about Mirko's relationship with Zoe. What did this add to the movie? Was Zoe's character as developed as Mirko's?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 30, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : November 7, 2023
• Cast : Johnny Strong , Athena Durner , Raj Kala
• Directors : William Kaufman , Johnny Strong
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Well Go USA Entertainment
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 120 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence and some language
• Last updated : February 13, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

War Horse: Movie Review

Hannah Goodwyn

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Veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg creates a beautiful picture of the love between a boy and his beloved horse in his newest live-action film release, War Horse .

Based on a play that was based on Michael Morpurgo's book, War Horse is a powerful war epic made captivatingly personal. It’s simply about the journey of a boy and his horse during the tumultuous years of World War I Europe.

Starring a who’s who of up-and-coming British actors and theatrical veterans,Spielberg's film is a sweeping cinematic adventure that will stir the hearts of teenagers and adults alike this holiday season.

THE MOVIE IN A MINUTE

Young Albert is thrilled when he’s chosen to train his family’s new horse, which he names Joey. But, life for him and Joey is forever changed as the British cavalry comes to their small town enlisting soldiers and horses for service in the First World War. Joey’s adventures and struggles – as he rides for the British forces, is taken by German soldiers, cared for by a young French girl – are met with a hopeful longing to be with Albert again. Coming of age, Albert enlists in the war to find his beloved horse to bring him home.

THE GOOD AND BAD IN WAR HORSE

From the first moments, War Horse makes you feel like you’re about to embark on an epic adventure. Your guide is Joey, played by multiple horses, which are all filmed showing the most magnificent expressions, giving real emotion to his character. Do not expect this film to be fast-paced. Go in expecting you will witness great storytelling, and you will not be disappointed.

Director Steven Spielberg is a master cinematic storyteller and his crew and cast’s talents aren’t lost in War Horse . Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, whom has worked on all of Spielberg’s live-action films since Schindler’s List , beautifully captures the emotion of each moment. Composer John Williams musically captures the story's essence and screenwriters Lee Hall and Richard Curtis put the right words to the action.

War Horse is at its purest form is the portrayal of an unbreakable friendship with the dramatic backdrop of a war that is often overlooked in cinema. Spielberg creatively crafts this movie in such a ways as to show the utter desolation of war without making it unbearable to watch. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence, War Horse is not for young children. But, the director’s clever filming of the war scenes keep it from the R level and appropriate viewing for pre-teens and older.

The cast of War Horse is to be commended. Spielberg did well in casting inexperienced actor Jeremy Irvine in the lead role, as Albert. His performance brought a believability to the love between his character and Joey. Actors Emily Watson and Peter Mullan convincingly play Albert’s discouraged parents. Two secondary actors of note are Tom Hiddleston, whom moviegoers may recognize as Thor’s evil brother Loki from this summer’s blockbuster, and Toby Kebbell, who plays a Geordie solider during one of the film’s critical scenes. Though only on screen for a portion of the film, Hiddleston delivers a memorable performance as the charming Capt. Nichols, Joey’s caretaker during his cavalry days. Kebbell also completely engages your attention as the soldier who risks his life entering No Man’s Land to save Joey. His reciting of Psalm 23 and the incredible set design, lighting, and filming of that scene make it one of the most emotional moments of the movie.

Watching War Horse will remind you what it is is like to experience a film that is good on all accounts. The acting, script, set direction, photography and musical score all contribute to making War Horse one of the year’s best movies.

About The Author

Hannah Goodwyn served as a Senior Producer for CBN.com, managing and writing for the award-winning website. After her undergraduate studies at Christopher Newport University, Hannah went on to study Journalism at the graduate level. In 2005, she graduated summa cum laude with her Master's from Regent University and was honored with an Outstanding Student Award. From there, Hannah began work as a content producer for CBN.com. For ten years, she acted as the managing producer for the website's Family and Entertainment sections. A movie buff, Hannah felt right at home working as CBN.com's More

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Movie Review | 'War Horse'

Innocence Is Trampled, but a Bond Endures

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By A.O. Scott

• Dec. 22, 2011

There is no combat in the early scenes of “War Horse,” Steven Spielberg’s sweeping adaptation of the popular stage spectacle , but the film opens with a cinematic assault as audacious and unsparing as the Normandy landing in “Saving Private Ryan.” With widescreen, pastoral vistas dappled in golden sunlight and washed in music (by John Williams) that is somehow both grand and folksy, Mr. Spielberg lays siege to your cynicism, bombarding you with strong and simple appeals to feeling.

You may find yourself resisting this sentimental pageant of early-20th-century rural English life, replete with verdant fields, muddy tweeds and damp turnips, but my strong advice is to surrender. Allow your sped-up, modern, movie-going metabolism, accelerated by a diet of frantic digital confections — including Mr. Spielberg’s just-released “Adventures of Tintin” — to calm down a bit. Suppress your instinctive impatience, quiet the snarky voice in your head and allow yourself to recall, or perhaps to discover, the deep pleasures of sincerity.

If you can fake that, the old Hollywood adage goes, you’ve got it made. But while “War Horse” is, like so many of Mr. Spielberg’s films, a work of supreme artifice, it is also a self-conscious attempt to revive and pay tribute to a glorious tradition of honest, emotionally direct storytelling. Shot the old-fashioned way, on actual film stock (the cinematographer is Mr. Spielberg’s frequent collaborator Janusz Kaminski), the picture has a dark, velvety luster capable of imparting a measure of movie-palace magic to the impersonal cavern of your local multiplex. An Interview With the “War Horse” Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski

The story, in its early chapters, also takes you back to an older — you may well say cornier — style of entertainment. Joey, the fleet-footed, headstrong half-Thoroughbred of the title, is purchased at auction by Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan), a proud and grouchy Devon farmer with a tendency to drink too much. His household includes a loving, scolding wife, Rosie (Emily Watson); a cantankerous goose; and a strapping lad named Albert (Jeremy Irvine), who forms an immediate and unbreakable bond with Joey. The teenage boy trains the horse to pull a plow and together they ride through the stunning scenery.

But this pastoral is darkened by memories of war — Ted fought the Boers in South Africa, an experience so terrible he cannot speak of it to his son — and by social divisions. The Narracotts are tenant farmers at the mercy of their landlord (David Thewlis), and if “War Horse” pays tribute to solid British virtues of decency and discipline it also, like a Thomas Hardy novel, exposes the snobbery and economic oppression that are, if anything, even more deeply rooted in that nation’s history.

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Rent War Horse on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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Technically superb, proudly sentimental, and unabashedly old-fashioned, War Horse is an emotional drama that tugs the heartstrings with Spielberg's customary flair.

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Review by Brian Eggert December 9, 2011

In 1958, to earn his Boy Scout merit badge in photography, at the age of 11, Steven Spielberg completed his first short film, called The Last Gunfight . Shot with his father’s 8mm camera, Spielberg completed the 9-minute Western by filming dusty, mountainous scenery to evoke Monument Valley’s presence in the films of John Ford ( My Darling Clementine , The Searchers ), personal favorites of the young filmmaker-to-be. Years later, in 1989, after he had become a household name and blockbuster engineer, Spielberg’s opening shot of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was actually filmed in Monument Valley as an evocation of Ford’s Westerns. It was the Second Unit’s Frank Marshall who completed the shot, however, as Spielberg refused to enter the “hallowed ground” of Ford’s cinema himself out of superstition. Over the years, Spielberg has drawn from Ford to establish his own classicism in his films, which today rival Ford’s in their pathos and scope.

Spielberg returns to Fordian archetypes for War Horse , an epic that sets out from a picturesque farm for a fateful ride across Europe during World War I, only to return in a sweeping “there and back again” journey. Based on the 1982 young-adult novel by Michael Morpurgo, the film follows a theatrical interpretation, which debuted on Broadway, and in 2007 won several Tony Awards, including Best Play. On stage, the production featured a decidedly cinematic treatment, complete with slow-motion battle sequences, while through puppetry, actors portrayed the central character, a horse from whose perspective the story is told. Spielberg’s film, adapted by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, remains closer to the book, although the play’s more recent popularity no doubt inspired the director and his longtime producer, Kathleen Kennedy, to pursue the project. In an effort to combine his sentimental temperament with his most humanized depiction of war yet, Spielberg delivers an instant classic, and one of 2011’s very best films.

The story opens in the quaint farming village of Devon on the English countryside, where the Narracott family struggles to maintain their farm. Hard-headed paterfamilias Ted (Peter Mullen) heads into town in spring to bid on a plow horse but finds himself drawn to a small hunter colt, a beautiful horse but not suited for farming. Nevertheless, out of stubborn pride, he outbids his malicious landlord (David Thewlis) for the animal, yet at a price that may leave him unable to pay rent or cultivate fields. A drunkard and troubled war vet, Ted returns home, the horse in tow, to find his wife, Rosie (Emily Watson), filled with scorn over the reckless purchase. But their son Albert (newcomer Jeremy Irvine), who has watched neighbors raise the horse since its birth, vows to teach the horse the plow. The boy names him Joey, and the two form a unique bond of trust and love. They keep the Narracott farm running, defying all odds and expectations. But when Nature tragically steps in and ruins the farm’s chances, Ted is forced to lease Joey to British Calvary forces when World War I breaks out. As Joey goes off to war, Albert is steadfast in the belief that they will be together again.

The film’s structure is episodic, following Joey in France as fate moves him from owner to owner. He begins with a bright British officer, Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), whose superior, Major Stewart (Benedict Cumberbatch), owns a black stallion known as Topthorn. Together, Joey and Topthorn are captured by the Germans and become the impetus for two deserters. Later, the horses are another kind of salvation for a young French girl and her caring grandfather, and later still, they are slaves for pulling heavy artillery behind German lines. With each chapter, Spielberg resists dwelling on the specific atrocities of war as he’s done in Schindler’s List , and instead views the whole as chaos. His film remains blind to borders or sides or politics and finds humanism in a range of nationalities through the horse’s uniquely neutral perspective. In a way, the approach best aligns with that of Spielberg’s WWII drama Empire of the Sun , set from the perspective of a child’s eyes. This is most tenderly accented in the scenes in No Man’s Land, where a British and German soldier emerge from their respective bunkers, each waving a white flag to cut Joey free from barbed wire.

With early scenes on the storybook farm, complete with green pastures and a petulant goose who oversees the property, Spielberg evokes Ford’s homegrown innocence in The Quiet Man and the tonal wholesomeness of Golden Age cinema. These scenes may seem overly syrupy, with composer John Williams’ music punctuating our responses. But it’s here that Spielberg establishes Home, a safe and dependable place of family and Technicolor beauty, just as Peter Jackson does for the Shire in the extended opening of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring . From these classical roots, the audience goes to war and witnesses modernized anarchy—killing machine tanks, cynical soldiers, and the pitiless omnipresent struggle—realized by battle scenes that rival those in Spielberg’s own Saving Private Ryan . By the finale, rich with an orange, low sunset blazing across the sky, Spielberg echoes Gone with the Wind , cinematically equating Albert and Joey’s return to the Narracott farm to Scarlett’s return to Tara, her beloved plantation. In each warmly realized note, Spielberg appreciates classic storytelling through imagery that awakens our cinematic memory.

But the film is also decidedly Spielbergian. In terms of story, he portrays another in a long line of semi-autobiographical Spielberg families whose all-but-absent father shapes the son. After all, Albert initially takes on Joey to prove their merits and earn his father’s approval. That desire drives Albert, even after the film’s story-propelling betrayal; as Albert enlists, he does so not only to find Joey but to live up to his father’s legacy. From a technical perspective, Spielberg recruits his crew of regulars: the efforts of production designer Rick Carter, editor Michael Kahn, and costume designer Joanna Johnston place the audience in the period setting with clarity and detail. But it’s Janusz Kaminski’s lyrical photography that brings a sense of wonder to the production. From an extreme close-up that reflects in Joey’s massive, expressive eye to extensive master shots that capture the scope of battle, Kaminski’s cinematography, combined with Spielberg’s ingenuity, delivers images both gorgeous and haunting. One such sequence involves the Calvary riding into a line of German guns at the edge of a forest. We see a grand shot of British soldiers armed with swords and charging on horseback. Cut to German machine guns firing, and then another cut to horses racing into the woods without their riders. As always, Spielberg finds creative ways to tell a story and produce a feeling through compelling images.

War Horse achieves what we can call Spielberg Magic—the sense of splendor and emotion fuelling his most universal pictures, which over the years have solidified him as our time’s most successful and most heartwarming filmmaker, and also the most consistently iconic. In full embrace of this notion, the film is powerful and flows naturally, and it’s bound to reach a wide array of viewers, many of who will need tissues to make it through. Though he doesn’t shy away from grim wartime realities, Spielberg instills themes of family that resonate as the setting changes and Joey passes into the next installment of his story. This heightens our involvement, making every sequence more affecting than the last. More impressive is Spielberg’s ability to maintain perfect control over these changing moods, but then finally, he returns us home, where he restores our sense of safety by channeling great works of cinema. Taking us on this journey, Spielberg has created another incredible, striking film, one sure to become an instant classic, like so many others bearing his master’s touch.

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War Horse Parent Guide

War is never a pretty thing and though sanitized in many ways, director steven spielberg's movie brings a more balanced but sobering look at world war i to the screen..

Albert (Jeremy Irvine) has a deep bond with his horse Joey. So when the animal is sold to the British Cavalry, the boy also enlists in the World War I effort, in the hopes of saving his equestrian friend.

Release date December 25, 2011

Run Time: 147 minutes

Official Movie Site

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kerry bennett.

War is never a pretty thing and though sanitized in many ways, director Steven Spielberg’s movie brings a more balanced but sobering look at World War I to the screen.

Before the conflict begins, Albert (Jeremy Irvine) lives in a pastoral setting in the English countryside where he and his parents (Emily Watson, Peter Mullan) eek out a living on a rock-strewn, tenant farm. Then one day in a match of one-upmanship fueled by alcohol, Albert’s father Ted buys a young horse at auction. Albert names the colt Joey and begins to train him for the saddle and plow. But with bills piling up, Ted sells the horse to Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) when the war breaks out. When the army sets sail, Joey is shipped to France along with the rest of the soldiers.

Based on a fictionalized children’s book by Michael Morpugo , the battle depictions are much more graphic and intense than anything described in the novel. Prolonged portrayals of hand-to-hand combat involve bayonets, automatic guns, tanks, grenades and gas warfare. Humans, as well as animals, endure injuries and harsh treatment. (Two soldiers are shot for leaving their posts.)

Yet looking through the unbiased eyes of this horse conscripted to service, audiences will find sacrifices made by men and beasts fighting for their country’s cause. And in the middle of the chaos reigns the love of one young man for his horse.

About author

Kerry Bennett

War horse rating & content info.

Why is War Horse rated PG-13? War Horse is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense sequences of war violence.

Violence: A goose chases people. A horse kicks a man and knocks him over. A man threatens to shoot an animal and mistakenly aims a gun at his son. A horse drags a boy. A woman threatens a man with knitting needles. Repeated intense scenes of war violence include shooting, stabbings and charging of soldiers. Dead and injured humans and animals are shown. Some blood is shown. Characters engage in trench warfare. Men are gassed. Medical personnel treat wounds. Two characters go AWOL and are later executed. Animals are worked until nearly dead and then shot. Explosions occur on the battlefield. A character uses a hand grenade. An animal is entangled in wire. Characters talk about people who have been killed.

Sexual Content: Young adult males make brief sexually suggestive comments. A man worries soldiers will assault his granddaughter.

Language: The script contains infrequent profanities and some name-calling.

Alcohol / Drug Use: A character consumes alcohol often and is occasionally portrayed as drunk. Other men infrequently drink and smoke.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

War Horse Parents' Guide

What compels Ted to up his bid against his landlord at the horse auction? What factors contribute to his actions?

Does meeting soldiers on both side of the conflict make this film different from many war movies? How does it make the story more realistic?

Albert says our lives are made up of big days and small days. How do big days change or impact a person’s course? What are some of the big days in your life?

This movie is based on the children’s book War Horse , by Michael Morpugo .

The most recent home video release of War Horse movie is April 3, 2012. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: War Horse

Release Date: 3 April 2012

War Horse releases to home video in a 2 Disc (Blu-ray/DVD) or 4 Disc (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy) Combo Pack. These sets include:

- War Horse: The Journey Home

- A Filmmaking Journey

- Through the Producer’s Lens

- Editing and Scoring

- An Extra’s Point of View

- The Sounds of War Horse

Related home video titles:

The relationship between humans and horses is also explored in the films Black Beauty , Flicka , Seabuscuit and The Black Stallion .

Movie Review: ‘War Horse’ is a beautiful, sad, unflinching emotional ride.

Certain filmmakers have made such undeniable impact on the industry that no matter how far they stray in their careers, the audiences root for them to succeed again. Steven Spielberg certainly is one of those directors for me, and I went into the screening of his newest epic with nervous reserve. But in hindsight, for a film of this caliber, I don’t think there is a better talent to have in charge. War Horse is the type of sweeping character-driven cinema that Spielberg was born to make.

The story begins and ends in the southwestern England country of Devon with Albie Narracott and his remarkable horse Joey. When the family farm goes broke through lack of resources and an unlucky weather spell Albie’s father is forced to sell Joey to the British cavalry to keep his family’s house and land. This is where Joey’s odyssey begins as he ventures through four years of WWI, profoundly effecting everyone he meets on both sides of the war while trying to make his way back to Albie.

One thing I’d like to make clear to anyone looking for an uplifting family adventure to get the kids and in-laws out of the house during the holidays: This is not your movie. At times , War Horse almost seems to gleefully take pleasure in ripping your heart out and stomping on it. Although the violence is never gory or graphic, this is an emotionally brutal film. Plenty of movies go all the way to their end credits without the audience becoming invested in the characters, but this film does an exceptional job of rapidly introducing characters you will grow to like, but who are given a woefully short amount of screen time in which their story (or sometimes their life) ends unexpectedly (and quite often horribly). There are not many happy endings in War Horse .

The first such character we meet after Joey leaves the Narracott’s farm may be the best. Tom Hiddleston does a complete 180-turn from his disturbed villain role of Loki in Thor with his instantly empathetic and lovable performance as Captain Nicholls. I found myself wanting the rest of the movie to revolve around his character. Unfortunately, his story ends all too soon, and this sets the tone for how the rest of the stories will be told throughout the remainder of the movie. The entire Narracott family (Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan) are also particularly great in their roles. I could honestly write an exhaustively longer review praising all the many performances and characters but I’m going to try to keep this mercifully shorter for the casual reader.

Another aspect of the movie worth the price of admission is the cinematography. From the gorgeous shots of the Devon countryside that could double as The Shire in Middle Earth to the WWI battles that are nothing short of stunning, Spielberg and company have a visual masterpiece on their hands. It’s really something to see all the different locations throughout England and Europe. Some of which are naturally breathtaking while others are desolate and deathly imposing as the war engulfs the surroundings. But it all adds to the overall richness and character of the film.

While the bulk of the movie deals with some pretty dark and heavy events its important that I note in my review that it is not all gloom and doom. There is a good amount of humor and adventure had by Joey and the revolving door of characters around him. Since the war is only the backdrop and not the focus of the film there isn’t much of a line of good or bad portrayed on either side. Both sides have characters that are shown in positive or negative lights in certain situations, giving the movie a humanity that many other films would have shied away from. But I wanted to be fair in saying War Horse isn’t some dark humorless David Fincher-style rampage of a film.

War Horse is a great piece of filmmaking and will no doubt be looked upon heavily for the 2012 award season. Spielberg adeptly weaves in and out of multiple storylines with a master’s ease. The largest negative to the film, especially true for animal lovers, is that there are so many gut-wrenching emotional beats throughout that you will become exhausted and begin to ask for mercy by the last half hour. But if you are a fan of finely crafted epic old school cinema you will not be disappointed with  War Horse , just don’t be surprised if you need a tissue…or twenty.

FINAL SCORE:   8.5/10

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WE THE PEOPLE

"toward a more perfect union".

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: Talk of the incongruity of the Founding Fathers and Founding Documents in relation to slavery.

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WE THE PEOPLE is a documentary on Providence Forum that recounts the story of the remarkable document, the Constitution of the United States. It brings in some excellent authorities on modern history such as Os Guinness, Judge Darrell White and the late Dr. Walter E. William of George Mason University. Beyond this, speakers such as Dr. Alveda King, niece of MLK, and Rev. Billy Falling, a Native American pastor, are key. Their unique position and status makes them some of the only voices today able to say things such as, “I’m proud to be an American despite some problematic parts of the American past.” Together these speakers offer a narrative of the nation that is rare indeed. The topics touched upon included the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, its heart and production, the issues of slavery, Indian Affairs, and what it means to be an American. However, perhaps the most important topic is the movie’s holding out hope that 21st Century America, if it returns to its Judeo-Christian foundations, can expect to be better than it was in the 19th or 20th Centuries.

Overall, the documentary has a single aim, which it accomplishes. It is much less rushed and repetitive than GEORGE WASHINGTON, another Providence Forum documentary with similar themes. Its pacing is much better and livelier. The speakers who drive the documentary forward are well chosen and eloquent. They provide an excellent picture of how Christianity and the Bible indelibly shaped the United States. In an engaging 57 minutes, the documentary tackles many important issues from a perspective that’s far too often unheard in the 21st Century. The music and narration is rousing and more varied than other Providence movies. Overall, WE THE PEOPLE is a movie that will put some much needed perspective in our time.

WE THE PEOPLE has a strong Christian, biblical worldview. It’s an unabashed attempt to show the Christian roots of America, its Founding Fathers, its Constitution, and its people. The section on the Founding Fathers and their tutelage under Rev. John Witherspoon, a strong Scottish Presbyterian, is key. Witherspoon is a primary reason for the uniqueness of the American Revolution. The biblical view, that man was fallen and sinful, was the antithesis of the spirit that fueled the French Revolution of 1789. This was the reason that there could not be two revolutionary movements so opposed to each others’ ethos. As Benjamin Franklin said, Americans were given a “Republic” by the grace of God; it only remains to be seen “if [we] can keep it.” Considered the least religious of the Founding Fathers, Franklin was the one who, in the midst of a deadlock of frustration at the Constitutional Convention, called for a time of prayer to guide those present. Perhaps, he should be the last word here:

I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without [H]is notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without [H]is aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that “except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and, I also believe that without [H]is concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel. . . . I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.

WE THE PEOPLE is free of foul language, violence or sexual material. MOVIEGUIDE® recommends this this movie for all ages but the young, who might find the talk of slavery and Trail of Tears upsetting.

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What happened to US politics?

John ganz explores the gritty political and cultural trends that erupted in the early 1990s and set the stage for the present..

When the Clock Broke

Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s

Loneliness was an epidemic. No one had yet coined the term “ incel ,” but spurned, resentful men found out they could attain the power they lacked in real life by talking on the radio, whose culture of disembodied license presaged the joking rhetorical violence that would flourish online. (Limbaugh was fired from an early DJ gig for playing the Rolling Stones’ misogynistic fantasy “Under My Thumb” too many times.) Declining rural economies provided fertile ground for conspiracy theorists and extremist movements. Police brutality broke out into public view, prompting new calls for accountability and a counter-reaction in defense of the impunity and privileges of the “thin blue line.” People disliked and distrusted the major parties and their candidates, so Perot inspired a cult of personality around his non-politician persona and his nonspecific policy platform. Faith in civic institutions drooped so low that John Gotti, a tacky and diminished variation on the mob -boss type, became a cult hero during his trials for murder and racketeering. Crowds cheered the beating of people protesting a presidential candidate. The far right, starting with Duke, began to embrace Russian nationalism. 

Hindsight can always find analogies and precursors for current events. But Ganz is after more than startled recognition. He offers an account of deep continuities in American political and cultural life. 

The political urgency of reading the mood and doing what it takes to win in unfavorable circumstances is one lesson of the early ’90s. But Ganz’s book mostly highlights another: that the shadowed regions of the national psyche are never fully repressed or finally healed. As everything changes, they remain—from the militia movement after the Cold War back to the John Birch Society in the ’50s and early ’60s and the Klan and nativist Black Legion in the ’20s and ’30s—always saying more or less the same things about the same real and imaginary threats to hearth and home, blood and soil, livelihood and prestige. There is always a vast latent audience for their stories, however false their history, irrational their resentments, or fraudulent their cures. And even their own clownishness is not always strong enough to stop them.

Benjamin J. Dueholm

Benjamin J. Dueholm is pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Dallas, Texas, and author of Sacred Signposts: Words, Water, and Other Acts of Resistance (Eerdmans).

We would love to hear from you. Let us know what you think about this article by writing a letter to the editors .

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Plugged in review: pixar delivers with ‘inside out 2,’ avoids major pitfalls for christian families.

“Inside Out 2” is fun. It’s thoughtful. And it’s a fantastic conversation starter. And it avoids the major content concerns for Christian parents. “Ultraman: Rising” isn’t perfect. But as far as positive messages go, it definitely earns the title of “ultra.”

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Read on to get Plugged In on what’s beyond the movie titles and trailers for faith-filled and family-first reviews from Focus on the Family’s Plugged In .

Inside Out 2 – In Theaters

For a long while, Pixar could do no wrong.

From 1995’s “ Toy Story ” to 2015’s “ Inside Out ,” the studio churned out a steady stream of critical and commercial hits. In that 20-year span, Pixar released 15 films — and a staggering 11 of them scored 90% or better on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Pixar has still churned out its share of critical and commercial darlings since then, it’s suffered a few misfires, too — perhaps highlighted (or lowlighted?) by 2022’s “ Lightyear ,” considered the first real financial flop on Pixar’s ledger.

Be sure to listen in to The Plugged In Show , a weekly podcast with lighthearted reviews for parents and conversations about entertainment, pop culture and technology: 

Many conservative Christian families steered clear of “Lightyear” because of its LGBT content, but that’s only part of the story of why the movie failed. Truth is, Pixar’s storytelling has also been a bit uneven — at least for Pixar. And those factors — and likely others — led many to eye “Inside Out 2” with caution. “I loved the original,” you might be asking. “But will the sequel match up? Will Disney/Pixar spoil it with ‘woke’ content?”

The answers to those two questions, in order, is yes, and no.

When I reviewed “Inside Out,” it was almost a revelation to me. Not only was it funny and emotional and deeply resonant, but it provided moviegoers with practically a whole new vocabulary to consider their own emotions and those of their kids. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about my own Islands of Identity or used the language of “Inside Out” to discuss my kids’ own thoughts and feelings with them. The sequel continues on that trajectory and gives moviegoers plenty to think about — and talk about. And with so many teens struggling with various forms of mental illness, “Inside Out 2” feels quite timely.

“Inside Out 2” isn’t perhaps the creative and emotional tour-de-force that the original was. But it again introduces us to (pardon the pun) heady emotional concepts with wit and wisdom. It offers some really fun, seemingly throwaway scenes that, when you think about them on the way home from the theater, you realize they had more heft than you thought. It takes you into the mind of a 13-year-old girl and reminds you that maybe you and Riley aren’t all that different.

Riley’s battles with Anxiety reminded me of when I was 13. And they reminded me of when I was 33. Yeah, puberty reliably overturns everyone’s apple cart. But bumps in the emotional road? They know no age limit.

And while the film has some issues (as every film does), it doesn’t come with red, blaring alarms or sirens in terms of its content. And that can allow many a parent’s own version of Anxiety to settle in a nice, comfy chair and take a deep breath.

“Inside Out 2” is fun. It’s thoughtful. And it’s a fantastic conversation starter. It might not be among Pixar’s very best, but that’s a high bar to clear.

And I’ll not lie: It had me smiling even as I wiped away a tear.

Read the rest of the review here . Watch the trailer here .

Ultraman: Rising – Streaming on Netflix

Were you to have told me that the kaiju film subgenre would release some of the most positive messages about life and family I’ve seen since I started my career at Plugged In, I’d have laughed in your face.

When “ Godzilla Minus One ” was released, for instance, I expected little more than a giant monster stomping around a city. And while such stomping did happen, I deeply enjoyed the depth of the story’s positive messages about the value of life.

“Ultraman: Rising” is the latest release in the kaiju category. And, like “Godzilla Minus One,” it’s yet another monster film that comes, somewhat surprisingly, with a lot of positive messages.

As Ken grapples with raising the orphaned baby kaiju, we see him slowly turn from being a self-absorbed baseball player to becoming a sacrificial and loving adoptive father. Of course, this baby kaiju isn’t human in any regard — but as Ken struggles with all of the baby monster’s needs, mishaps and more, we catch a glimpse of the difficulties and triumphs of parenting.

And that’s intentional. Director Shannon Tindle tweeted , “The film was inspired by my experience becoming a parent.” And in another interview , Ms. Tindle described the movie as an “honest approach to family” and “a celebration of the iconic [Ultraman] and my experiences as both a son and a father.”

That’s not to say that “Ultraman: Rising” is perfect. As much as we appreciate its positive messages, the story’s frequent misuse of God’s name remains a big strike against the family-centric film, one that parents will want to think about carefully before they decide whether to watch.

But as far as this film’s positive messages go, “Ultraman: Rising” is just about as “ultra” as it claims.

Plugged In is a Focus on the Family publication designed to shine a light on the world of popular entertainment while giving families the essential tools they need to understand, navigate, and impact the culture in which they live. Through our reviews, articles and discussions, we hope to spark intellectual thought, spiritual growth and a desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

Reviews written by Paul Asay and Kennedy Unthank .

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission .

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Movie Review: Peace (and pieces) of mind ‘Inside Out 2'

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, background left, Anger, voiced by Lewis Black, Disgust, voiced by Liza Lapira, Envy, voiced by Ayo Edebiri, and Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, in a scene from “Inside Out 2.” (Disney/Pixar via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith, Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, Disgust, voiced by Liza Lapira, Fear, voiced by Tony Hale and Anger, voiced by Lewis Black, in a scene from “Inside Out 2.” (Disney/Pixar via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith, left, and Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, in a scene from “Inside Out 2.” (Disney/Pixar via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Embarrassment, voiced by Paul Walter Hauser, Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, Envy, voiced by Ayo Edebiri, and Ennui, voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos in a scene from “Inside Out 2.” (Disney/Pixar via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows promotional art for “Inside Out 2.” (Disney/Pixar via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows, from left, Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, Embarrassment, voiced by Paul Walter Hauser, Envy, voiced by Ayo Edebiri, Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, Disgust, voiced by Liza Lapira, Anger, voiced by Lewis Black (foreground), Fear, voiced by Tony Hale, and Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith, in a scene from “Inside Out 2.” (Disney/Pixar via AP)

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, left, and Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, in a scene from “Inside Out 2.” (Disney/Pixar via AP)

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Sequels have been a touchy subject when it comes to Pixar, but it’s hard to deny the natural premise of “Inside Out 2.” It’s been nine years since “Inside Out,” yet in the span between that film and its new sequel, Riley, the young girl with a head full of emotions, has gone from 11 years old to 13. She’s just grown up a little.

Or maybe a lot. In the middle of the night, the old gang of Joy ( Amy Poehler ), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale), Disgust (Liza Lapira) and Anger (Lewis Black) are roused from their beds by a soft beep, like a fire alarm in need of a new battery, but soon it’s sounding an all-out emergency. On their console a red light blinks. “What’s that?” one says. “Puberty,” the button reads. Soon, construction workers are swarming the control room for “demo day,” with wrecking balls making room for “the others.”

In come a new gaggle of emotions said to be more sophisticated: Anxiety ( Maya Hawke ), Envy ( Ayo Edebiri ), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). The next morning, Riley wakes up to find herself unusually stinky. Life, as they say, comes at you pretty fast. “Inside Out 2” turns out to be not just a modest, inch-things-along sequel but a follow-up of cataclysmic proportions.

Tempting as it is to take any revisiting of “Inside Out” — a high water mark for not just Pixar but ’10s American movies — as sacrilegious, its sequel is deftly sensitive to one of the most awkward chapters of life. The giddy sense of imagination is a little less boundless this time. One could certainly look at “Inside Out 2” like a parent eyeing a teenager and thinking the younger version was cuter and less whiny. But the filmmakers of “Inside Out 2” have managed again to filter complex psychological developments into a bright, entertaining head trip that in its finest moments packs an emotional wallop.

I would peg Joy as the real protagonist of the first “Inside Out.” That movie, really, hinged on the blue-haired sprite’s desperate race to preserve all the happiness of childhood. Aided especially by Poehler’s brilliant voice work, Joy — a kind of stand-in for parents wanting only the best for their kids — was less just another emotion than an unflagging guardian learning that sometimes letting go is best.

This time, Riley feels more the main character, though Anxiety, an excitable, orange, bug-eyed Muppet-like thing, is increasingly calling the shots. Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is now taller, has a few good friends and is still playing hockey. Her internal landscape is shifting, too. Boy Band Island is done, for one. And out of her pools of memories, new strands are growing a tree-shaped Belief System. Just who Riley is, at her core, gets tested and reshaped in “Inside Out 2.”

Some of the brain trust on the film are also new. Kelsey Mann, a longtime Pixar veteran, takes over directing from Pete Docter (now the Pixar chief) to make his debut feature. The script is by Meg LeFauve, who co-wrote the original, and Dave Holstein.

My recollections of “Inside Out” — if my memory orbs have been correctly filed — are mostly of all those glowing balls of the past and Joy and Sadness’ mad dashes through the back of Riley’s mind, a pun-filled inner space both literal and metaphorical. Plus, we can’t forget, Richard Kind’s voice as Bing Bong.

Much is the same in “Inside Out 2” (though, alas, Bing Bong sleeps with the fishes). But the film is a little more tilted outside Riley’s mind. As the school year is coming to a close, Riley heads to a weekend hockey camp that’s a preview of her high-school life to come.

New stresses are developing. Her pals (voiced by Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green and Grace Lu) are headed to a different school, Riley learns. On the ice, what was once carefree play is becoming a more complicated experience plagued by self-doubt. At camp, Riley really wants to impress an older star player named Val (Lilimar Hernandez). To do so, Anxiety, usurping Joy, increasingly sacrifices core beliefs to manically build Riley a new identity. Joy and others, booted from the control room, again have to work frantically to mount a resistance, while at the same time learning a lesson about the need to reconcile — not just try to forget — less happy memories.

“Inside Out 2,” which arrives after a period of soul-searching for Pixar, both recaptures some of the animation studio’s magic and reminds us that rekindling the ambitious spirit of Pixar’s heyday isn’t so easy. The sequel stays close to familiar neural pathways. There are new cerebral puns — the echoing depths of a Sar-"chasm,” a brainstorm that rains light bulbs — and a new cartoon relic of childhood to replace Bing Bong: a character named Bloofy, voiced by Ron Funches. It’s easier to see where this “Inside Out” is headed and a little harder to be dazzled by what unfolds.

But it’s aim is remarkably true. Confronting the struggles and realities of anxiety, particularly for teenage girls, could hardly be a more laudable undertaking. And the care is taken here to illustrate how new impulses can run roughshod over a young person and throw their internal compass out of whack.

Pixar, like other studios wrestling with a new media landscape, has dabbled in recent years with more short-form and digital-friendly content. But Docter has steered Pixar back to focusing on feature films with robust theatrical releases. (“Inside Out 2” is to exclusively play for 100 days in theaters.) So in more ways than one, Mann’s movie feels like a much-needed feature-length refuge from today’s anxiety-producing devices. Unlike many of Pixar’s moving metaphors of parenthood, this one is, affectingly, for the kids.

“Inside Out 2,” a Walt Disney Co. release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for some thematic elements. Running time: 96 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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‘Inside Out 2’ offers all the feels – and a great time at the movies

• By Cameron Pugh Staff writer
• Troy Aidan Sambajon Staff writer

June 17, 2024

“Inside Out 2” opens with our protagonist in her natural setting, playing ice hockey with her friends. With the emotions audiences grew familiar with from the first film working in unity, Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is a dazzling talent. But when life becomes more complicated, Riley struggles to cope with the pressure – and a new cast of characters emerges. They’ll be familiar to anyone who has made it through the teenage years.

“Inside Out 2,” which had the biggest opening of any movie since “Barbie,” harkens back to a gold standard for Pixar. After recent direct-to-streaming disappointments like “Luca” (2021) and “Turning Red” (2022), “Inside Out 2” is a welcome return to form. It offers a refreshing perspective on mental health that draws in new audiences while reminding the rest of us why we continue to watch the studio’s films.

The sequel picks back up with Riley, now 13 and a rising high school freshman, prepping for a three-day hockey camp with her two best friends, Grace (Grace Lu) and Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green). Inside her neurological control center, the colorful crew of Sadness, Disgust, Anger, Fear, and Joy have mastered co-piloting. Then, a brand-new crew of emotions, brought on by puberty, arrives. Meet Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and the aloof Ennui.  

Why We Wrote This

“Inside Out 2” doesn’t rise to the heights of Pixar’s greatest classics, like “The Incredibles.” But it’s well worth a trip to a movie theater – a rarity these days. And who couldn’t use a little more Joy in their lives?

In the first movie, 11-year-old Riley faced a series of challenges that were earth-shattering for her, but fairly mundane for the audience: a big move, a disappointing tryout, and a fight with her parents. But in the sequel, the drama doesn’t just play out in the heroine’s head. Riley is breaking into her coach’s office, dyeing her hair, and falling out with her best friends. Some themes, like emotional repression, are familiar chords from the first film. But the follow-up also tackles topics like teenage social dynamics, dealing with change, and self-acceptance.

The new multicolored characters are fun, with hairstyles and clothes that feel true to the emotions they represent. Anxiety (Maya Hawke), for example, has a mess of frizzy hair that makes it easy to imagine she spends her nights planning rather than sleeping. Embarrassment is a gentle giant who hides in his hoodie. And the elusive Ennui is French. 

While en route to hockey camp, Riley learns her two besties are headed to a different high school at the end of summer. The news sends Riley into an anxiety-driven tailspin, pushing her to rebuff her friends to impress a group of popular girls.  

What’s refreshing is that these girls aren’t a repackaging of popular tropes. They aren’t mean girls or bullies who act as foils to Riley’s kind and understanding best friends. They’re perfectly nice. They respect and encourage Riley, and at various moments, even sympathize with her. Riley’s struggle to be cool is an internal one, and it’s familiar for anyone who’s struggled to carve out a place in the vast and intimidating social environment of early adolescence.

A new feature within Riley’s neurological command center is her glowing sense of self, made up of her memories and personal beliefs. As the story unfolds, and Riley’s sense of self changes, Joy (Amy Poehler) and her crew struggle to let go of the version of Riley they’ve worked so hard to build.

This comes with some poignant lessons, both for Riley and her emotional stewards. As the old emotions search the recesses of Riley’s consciousness for her lost sense of self, Joy can’t quite maintain her native optimism. “Maybe that’s what happens when you grow up,” she says. “You feel less joy.” 

But she, and Riley, emerge from the trial more well-rounded and resilient. Joy realizes that she can’t protect Riley from even her most negative emotions, and Riley comes to accept that she can make mistakes, even while striving to be the best version of herself. The message is an important one, though it’s not very surprising. Still, compelling visuals and skillful performances from the voice actors make it heartwarming and effective.

The strongest feature of “Inside Out 2” might just be its relatability. For children and teenagers, the similarities are enough to make you cringe. For parents, Joy’s realization that she can’t protect Riley from everything will tug at the heartstrings. For the rest of us, Riley’s triumphs and pitfalls will inspire many emotions, from delight to heartache. And as we learn from Joy, it’s probably best to let yourself feel them.

“Inside Out” was heralded as an instant classic in 2015, and it’s hard for a sequel to live up to that mantle. The new movie can’t recreate the novelty of getting a peek inside the mind of a preteen.

“Inside Out 2” doesn’t rise to the heights of Pixar’s greatest creations, like “The Incredibles.” And there’s nothing in it that matches the indelible first 10 minutes of “Up.” But it’s well worth a trip to a movie theater – a rarity these days. And who couldn’t use a little more Joy in their lives?

“Inside Out 2” is rated PG for some thematic elements. 

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