The story of a horse and his boy

“War Horse”: Steven Spielberg’s unashamedly old-fashioned adaptation of the popular children’s novel and hit stage play – a horse and his boy story set against the big, bloody backdrop of the First World War. Heart-tugging, tear-jerking, hooves-thundering. (2:26, PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence) • • •

“We Bought a Zoo”: Matt Damon stars in Cameron Crowe’s adaptation of Benjamin Mee’s memoir about a widower and single father released from his cage of grief when he moves his family to the country, rebuilds a rundown menagerie and rebuilds his life. With Scarlett Johansson. (2:04, PG for language and some thematic elements) • • 1/2