January 5 (Thursday) performance cancelled.

[Brad]

WAR HORSE is LASSIE COME HOME only with a horse. Still it is a spectacular production. But the story at the heart of that production is pretty mundane.

I have to disagree.

I saw War Horse in London and loved every minute of it.

Ditto. I think War Horse should be at the top of anyone's must-see list.

Ditto here too. I saw War Horse in London and would happily line up to see it again

[mikey2573]

I think WAR HORSE is definitely worth seeing. But it is the way it is presented --the fantastic puppets, the brilliant stage images, the creative staging--that make it worthy. I thought the story itself was a very typical "Boy and his Horse" tale.
The similarities to LASSIE COME HOME were almost palpable.

[ERinVA]

Is there something wrong with a "boy and his horse" tale?

[mikey2573]

No, there is nothing wrong with a boy and his horse tale. But it has been done before with various animals. The most obvious comparison for WAR HORSE is LASSIE COME HOME because the stories are almost identical. Lassie is purchased by a poor family and the boy and his dog become inseperable. The dog is taken from the boy and sent a great distance away. The two then spend the rest of the story trying to reunite, with the dog encountering various humans (and the reader/viewer exposed to each human's dramatic "tale") along the way.
At the end, surpassing insurmountable odds, the dog is reunited with its young master.
Stick in "horse" every time you see "dog" or "Joey" each time you see "Lassie" in the summary above, and you have the story of WAR HORSE.
Again, WAR HORSE's theatricality is brilliant and deserves to be seen. I just thought the story was a bit "ho-hum". It will be interesting to see what Speilberg does with it.

[johnnyc]

No, there is nothing wrong with a boy and his horse tale. But it has been done before with various animals.

The thing is, every possible plot device has been done before, in one medium or another. So the question should be, how well is it handled this time, and with what interesting variations? I'm convinced now that War Horse is worth seeing, and I purchased a ticket for the Thursday January 5 performance.

[CJ-Rochester]

I don't think you will regret your decision Johnnyc.