Better than expected, still not exceptional

Rating: Null/10 (13 November 2002)

I had no interest in seeing this movie when it first came out. It was only after I read the book by Nicholas Sparks that I decided to watch it. The movie was ok, but there were several changes from the book (for instance, Landon's parents are divorced, rather than his father always travelling). The acting was less than impressive-- Mandy Moore has a wonderful voice, but she really only shone in the two scenes in which she used it. In many of the scenes, she was sarcastic and not as pleasant and forgiving as she was in the book; I felt that it hurt her character when she acted like that (and when the script gave her those lines). Shane West was not bad, but it was hard to see that he was falling in love with her: it seemed more like, "Well, the script says I have to kiss her now, so I guess I will."
3/5 stars
**SPOILERS** At the end, Mandy Moore didn't seem weak or close to death as she should have, it just looked like she was walking slowly. They didn't even bother to change her makeup to a shade paler.