Apparently, releasing one major motion picture this past Christmas wasn't enough for Steven Spielberg. He gave us two! The Adventures of Tintin is more of a popcorn release while War Horse represents the kind of old fashioned storytelling we don't really see much of anymore. During World War I, a horse named Joey is sold to the British calvary--much to the dismay of his young owner Albert (played by newcomer Jeremy Irvine). Distraught over the loss of his only true friend, Albert enlists in the military so that he might be re-united with Joey. War Horse is a sweeping epic but its episodic nature tends to be a bit jarring. Just when we're beginning to warm up to a character, the film rips us out of that particular environment and takes us some place new (come to think of it, Spielberg's much misunderstood A.I. was structured in a similar fashion). This is by design and the film follows the same pattern as Michael Morpurgo's novel and the popular stage play, but in cinematic form, it is all at once appropriate and frustrating. The majority of the film is told from the point of view of Joey. No easy task but Spielberg is up to the challenge. Joey is the central character and Spielberg treats him as such. War Horse is a long film (perhaps too long), but I'd be hard pressed to suggest where the film might have been trimmed. The first 45 minutes of the picture focuses on the bond between Albert and Joey, and while it does feel a bit long, its necessary because it patiently sets up what's to follow. Once Joey is plunged into war, War Horse finds its central character changing hands and viewing the conflict from several points of view. Ambitious to be sure, but the film doesn't always hit the mark. War Horse is an earnest movie and unexpectedly gentle for a film about war. It has gritty moments, but Saving Private Ryan it isn't. Definitely sappy at times and some might argue a bit artificial, but War Horse continues a recent (and somewhat welcome) trend at the movies in which cynicism appears to be a thing of the past (a notion that David Fincher's dark and mesmerizing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo desperately attempts to bury). Screenplay issues aside, War Horse is worth watching to witness a master film-maker at work. Visually speaking, there are moments here I'll never forget. The sequence in which a terrified Joey blazes along side the battlefield trenches as guns are firing and bombs are dropping, is enough to make the hair on your neck stand on end. Truly breathtaking stuff and while its clear that some of this stuff has to be CGI, its nearly impossible to tell. War Horse isn't the best film of the year nor does it rank amongst the likes of Spielberg's very best, but its still the kind of film that demands to be seen in a theater.