War Horse (2011)

At the outbreak of World War I, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. [wiki]

Nominated for 6 Oscars:

Best Picture
Best Cinematography
Best Original Score
Best Art Direction
Best Sound Mixing
Best Sound Editing

I didn't have any expectations going into this film, I knew very little about the book or about the play - only knew that the play had won the Tony award. And I actually think my lack of info or expectations helped a lot here. What I discovered was a very traditional film, following a familiar structure, but overall it was a very pleasant experience.

I was afraid the film was gonna be all about the boy & the horse, and thankfully it wasn't. Once the war started, it was nice to see new characters and each of them was an interesting discovery. Of course, the screenplay exagerates at times and there's a bit too much epic attempt going on here, but the story is interesting, it rarely gets boring and I was quite curious to see what will happen in the end.

I guess people had too many expectations going into this, which might explain the lack of love from critics AND Oscar. This wouldn't have made it had there been only 5 nominees for Best Picture and the rest of the nominations are for techical stuff, which of course I appreciated. I wouldn't be surprised if it won Sound & Sound Editing, it's a beautifully shot film, nicely put together and with an interesting story.

My rating for the film: 8/10. Maybe a more realistic ending would've gained it more fans.