Product Details

• Actors: Kate Winslet, Adam Godley, Philip Rowson, Colin McFarlane, Iain Jones (II)
• Directors: Dave Unwin
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
• DVD Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002J4ZSW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #208,819 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "War Game" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice little story, October 26, 2004

By 

Andrea (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: War Game (DVD)

This film was made in 2001 but never released to the general public until now. Kate Winslet fans will enjoy this, as she is simply brilliant in animated movies - she has such a lovely voice. Get this on DVD if you see it at a good price!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Desperately disappointing, September 9, 2006

By 

Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: War Game (DVD)

War Game is a desperately disappointing animated adaptation of Michael Foreman's excellent children's picture book about the Christmas Truce of 1914. Unfortunately, in the hands of the Snowman team it's all just too nice and safe for the respite to have any power, and the loss of the haunting ending from the book (where the hero's body slowly vanishes under falling snow) in favour of something less upsetting to the kiddies renders it all even more so what: only the beautiful yet quietly devastating closing lines of narration truly work. Terrible performances from many of the voice cast, too. At least at 29 minutes it's brief.

3.0 out of 5 stars The book is better., January 4, 2012

By 

Inspector Karamazov - See all my reviews

This review is from: War Game (DVD)

The book is one of the most moving I've ever read, and so when I heard of the animated adaption, I was excited to see it. However, I found it to be extremely flawed in many ways. It wasn't a complete loss, there were a few very lovely scenes that only made the rest of it look worse.

The Bad:

1. The voice acting. With the exception of Kate Winslet, most of the voices were godawfully annoying. There was no subtlety or reality to these voices, they sound about as convincing as your Saturday Morning Cartoons.

2. The animation. With a few exceptions(I'll touch more on this later), the animation was too bright and kiddy for such a subject, and at times the people look unnatural and sort of disconcerting.

3. The unnecessary song. Not only is it annoying, it's still stuck in my head.

The Good:

There are several moments that really work, such as the final attack sequence. Many of the backgrounds are very nicely drawn, and there's a great moment involving a crashed plane that I won't spoil for you. The music (other than the aforementioned song) is very nice, and of course Kate Winslet does the best job she can with what she was given.

I think the biggest problem this movie has is that it tries to do to much. It tries way to hard to be funny, exciting, and moving and the only times it succeeds is when it calms down a bit and goes with something simpler. The book is told in very spare language with simple illustrations, and yet packs a much bigger emotional punch.

It's worth seeing once, but read the book.