The Sprout

Review: War Horse

Posted by Jellytots from Cardiff - Published on 30/01/2012 at 19:07
3 comments » - Tagged as Movies

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Sub-Ed Note: Contains Spoilers

War Horse is a book written by the multi-award wining author Michael Morpugo. The book has recently been made into a movie by Steven Spielberg. War Horse is an emotional story set during the First World War. I went and watched it with my friends and we all ended up in tears. I would give this film 5 stars out of 5. Below is a little summary of the movie and book.

A horse is separated from his mother and is sold. A poor boy named Calvin has been admiring the horse, who's called Joey, for a while now. So he bids for Joey against his landlord's son (Tony). Tony is a stuck up, rude and arrogant young boy. Calvin bids all his money and gets the horse in the end.

When Calvin gets home he starts training Joey. Joey is a fast learner. Soon Joey and Calvin create a magical bond together. But while Calvin is at work one day his father sells Joey to a solider, Captain James Nicholas, who is going to war. When Calvin gets home he is devastated and sprints towards his father in the hope of trying to stop the trade happening, but he is too late but Captain James promises to take good care of Joey.

While Joey is at war he finds himself re-united with his mother. Soon Captain James and some of his men die while trying to conduct a surprise attack. Back at home Calvin receives a letter that states that Captain James had died. Calvin then joins the army to try and find his horse. Many horses die during a battle but Joey and his mum survive. A young boy and his brother look after Joey and his mother but the two boys are go AWOL from the German army. The two young boys are soon found and killed.

Joey and his mum run as fast as they can and find themselves in a stable which belong to an old man called Gussiepi and his grand-daughter, Emilie. Gussiepi and Emilie take care of the horses but they are soon found and have to be returned to the German army. After all the effort of walking many miles with no break and not eating or drinking, Joey's mother dies. Joey can't take in all of the things going on and he just runs. He runs until he gets stuck between a lot of wires, when all of a sudden two men, one from each side of the war, come together to save Joey. The two men bond and have a laugh despite the hard work of trying to get Joey out as he's very tangled. The man from the British army, who are being attacked with gas, takes Joey. The gas blinds Calvin. A year or so after the war is over, Calvin finds his horse.

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