War Horse (2011)

"This beautifully composed picture brings a robust physicality to tried-and-true source material, but falls short of the sustained narrative involvement and emotional drive its resolutely old-fashioned storytelling demands."

"War Horse shows Spielberg back in the saddle, in full command of story, setting and characters."

"In the end, while you can't doubt Spielberg's commitment to telling a putatively heartwarming and emotion-wringing tale, War Horse is just too calculated to do what he wants to do."

"War Horse is bold, not afraid of sentiment and lets out all the stops in magnificently staged action sequences."

"War Horse left me strangely and definitively unmoved on every level, with a cheesiness factor alienating me from the characters and robbing me of any connection with the story."

"A grandly made, tear-jerking film for all audiences, the way Hollywood used to make them."

"This is a beautifully built, classically framed movie, shot with the unshowy natural expressiveness of a John Ford Western."

"War Horse is bold, exquisite family filmmaking in the grandest Hollywood tradition."

"Spielberg exercises stunning control behind the camera."