Surprisingly Moving and Touching

Rating: 10/10 (14 June 2002)

Yeah, yeah...the storyline's been done before. Even some of the dialogue sound familiar. And yes, the score at the end dripped with too much melodrama to be effective.
But you know what, despite all that, the movie still works. It had me, and a good number of the audience, teary eyed at the appropriate moments. It had me smiling like a dork in the joyous moments of the film.
For me, what made this movie so effective was the performance and chemistry of the leads, Shane West and Mandy Moore. They made celluloid romance look real and sincere. Their emotions and feelings were palpable. The film and the actors gave one of the best depictions of real love. There is maturity and innocence in their actions. And that's what makes this movie different from other run-of-the-mill romance movies.
Mandy Moore really surprised me at how effective she was in conveying Jamie's innocence and strength of character. Her sweet face and graceful manner make her almost otherworldy, but she still manages to reach out to the viewers and tug at their emotions as if she was someone they knew all their life. I believe we'll be seeing more of Mandy in Hollywood which I think is a good thing.
Shane West is another revelation. He had the difficult task of showing Landon's growth from aimless youth to self-assured adult capable of self-less love. And he pulled it off. His subtle performance made Landon's transformation believable and does not suffer a single awkward moment. Like Mandy, I hope we see more of Mr.West in Hollywood.
Others have complained that the story is too squeaky clean and it's totally impossible that two teeners could be so controlled when it came to sex. Well, guess what...there are responsible teen-agers out there. They just don't get enough attention since most of Hollywood think that only sex will sell to a young audience. The box-office performance of "A Walk To Remember" certainly disproves that. Young people, adults and grannies alike enjoyed this movie. It's about time that Hollywood showed another kind of teenager. The kind that you can admire.
As for the comments that this one was just another "Prety-ugly-girl" movie where the heroine is just waiting for a make-over...well, I don't know what movie you were watching but "Walk" was definitely not it. Jamie was never ugly to begin with. She just didn't dress right and did things that were "unusual" for other kids. All that branded her as an outcast. And where is it written that being pretty ensured popularity in High School? That's a fallacy. Lots of pretty girls in high school but they weren't popular since they didn't have the right friends, the right clothes, the flashy attitude or other things that made one popular. The Jamie character was that kind of pretty girl. She had the pretty face but had a strong sense of self to not be concerned with superficial things. Again, that's what made her different. And she never had a make-over in the movie! She stayed true to herself til the end.
Congratulations to Shane, Mandy and the filmmakers of A Walk To Remember! It was a risky move to go against the mainstream of sex and violence in films. But judging from the user comments in this site, you guys did the right thing. This is simply one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.
P.S. The soundtrack is excellent as well. Listening to it brings back images from the movie and one can't help but be emotional when hearing the tracks.