Movie Review: 'The War' (1994)

The title of this lesson-heavy, Forrest Gumpish parable, set in 1970 in the rural South, refers to the Vietnam war and its impact on home- again veteran Stephen Simmons (Kevin Costner). But it also alludes to something homegrown: a fierce battle pitting Simmons kids Lidia (Lexi Randall) and Stu (Elijah Wood) and their allies against a family of mean, impoverished local children for possession of a prized tree house. Costner is nicely weighted — both in manner and in midriff — in a plot thick with sentimentality. But it's Elijah Wood who stands out, steering a course away from easy tears. C+