Adding yet another film to the metric butt-load they've already got on their plate, Dreamworks has picked up the rights to the children's novel War Horse. The Spielberg-owned production company has tapped Lee Hall, whose only notable work on his very short resume is Billy Elliot, to pen the adaptation, according to THR.

War Horse is told in the first person by a horse named Joey who is sold to the army during World War I. His courage in war is an inspiration to the soldiers, but what he truly wants is to see his master again. The book is heavily anti-war, and was runner up for the 1982 Whitbread Award, an award honoring authors from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

There have so far been two adaptations of the book, one play and surprisingly enough a radio adaptation for the BBC, so it's high time this acclaimed novel by Michael Morpurgo found itself on the big screen. From the sound of it, the book is very touching and full of emotion, so the real trick will be putting someone behind the camera who really knows how to handle that.