Emperor's new clothes

Rating: Null/10 (10 February 2005)

I found the film extremely disappointing, my expectations having been fuelled by all the hype surrounding its release. I find it difficult to understand why it has received any awards, when looking beyond a superficial emotional level. This is a film about values and relationships and as such it fails badly. The characters should have been important and they are merely stereo-types uttering inane, over-sentimental clichés. The story line is predictable and telegraphed in advance in case we miss anything. There is no subtlety and we are left wanting to know more about important background issues that would have given the characters some depth. The actors are going through the motions of previous roles; there is nothing new in any of the performances. I will take the time to read the story upon which the film is based and it may be that the source material is the weak spot, in which case it has been poorly adapted and the result is a film that is sadly lacking in the qualities to raise it to the levels at which it is being pitched. I feel the industry should be ashamed to be heaping accolades on such a shabby, ponderous bathos-ridden work that clearly fails to hit the mark.