Based on a relatively popular childrens novel and an incredibly popular play, people were hopeful that the War Horse movie would reach the appropriate formula of raw emotion from the story/play and the beautiful cinematography and animal-to-human connection that film would allow. As hard as it tried, War Horse stumbled at the finish line. The scene construction seemed choppy, with transitions where one could imagine theatre lights going down dramatically, but instead simply cut away sharply, leaving the audience still working through the latest emotional blow with no reprieve. The obvious use of fourteen different horses for the central character broke the illusion on a regular basis. The main boy seemed stiff and disinterested, rather than sorrowful and invested in his animal companion. Scenes of the horse facing off with a tank or running through several barbed wire barricades, flipping over, and still galloping on were both traumatic and too over the top to strike a chord. While there were moments of true humanity and connection that exhibit the confusion and cruel violence of the time, most of the film seems rushed. Unlike classics like Black Beauty, the constriction of War Horse into a feature film made the connections between the humans and horse fleeting, and without narration from the horses perspective as the book intended, the audience is left without a complete or entirely satisfying story for any character.