A mostly successful adaptation of a very romantic book

Rating: 8/10 (7 March 2011)

Just read the book and decided it was time to re-watch the movie. It was better than I recalled.
The original story was the recollections of a fifty-something man recalling his coming of age and the role that a dying girl played in that. I'll freely admit that the book required some updating to make it accessible to a wider audience and for the most part the updates were handled well.
The addition of Jamie's numbered list of goals was great. As was most of the astronomy side-story. Even the beginning initiation sequence with Landon's crew jumping from the tower fit well in characterizing Landon.
However the roaring 20's play was cringe-worthy at best. I can't understand why it was used. The original contained a religious play and I can see where that might not play with today's movie going audience but the student written musical that replaced it was just terrible.
Overall the movie was well worth watching but I'll have to fast forward through the school play scenes if I watch it again.