Good plot, good acting, but tried too hard

Rating: 7/10 (24 December 2004)

If only the director, Forster, did not try this hard to move the audience, the movie could have been magical. Now it is too late. All the wonderful and inspiring acting by Johnny Depp, Radha Mitchell and Freddie Highmore do not lead to the climax naturally. I felt more or less being pushed through the whole movie and "was required" to shed several drops of tears at some point.
That being said, it is a movie worth seeing for the sake of Johnny Depp's acting. His versatility was again proved by his accurate acting of an English gentleman with a heart of a boy. And the historical context was subtly hinted throughout the movie. The Connan Doyle episode was especially amusing.