War Horse

Although lacking the puppet theatricality of the critically acclaimed stage production, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel emerges as an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser thanks to the director's sure sense of storytelling and trademark visual flourishes. It's a moving odyssey that outlines the suffering of the First World War and the loss of life while remaining family-friendly. Sold to the cavalry, thoroughbred Joey is captured by Germans and hidden by a French peasant, while tracked by the Devon farmer's son (Jeremy Irvine) who trained and nurtured him. Full of stirring spectacle (including an epic charge through no-man's-land) and poignant moments (Joey's bolt through barbed wire, which brings two warring sides briefly together), this grandiose equine saga is lavish and gripping, if a little Disneyfied in places. Much of the story is knowingly designed to induce tears, especially the final scenes shot against a burnished sunset, but there's still no doubting Spielberg's sincerity.