Lousy love story, great FX.

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2001)

Once you get past the "Young and the Restless" this is a great movie for the WW II afficionado and history buff. While no one will say the movie is 100% historical fact, it was a noble effort. It's true that the Japanese seem a little too noble, it was after all a "sneak" attack, but we don't want to offend them do we? The American were larger than life, as all heros ought to be. The depiction of the carnage, the feeling of outrage, the desire to "get them back" is well portrayed by the pilots, the officers in charge and President Roosevelt. The preparations for the Doolittle raid are documented better than any movie since "30 Seconds over Tokyo". Actually, this is the only other movie that addresses this heroic raid. The "other" Pearl Harbor movie, "Tora, Tora, Tora" , was more documentary than movie and you were hard pressed to feel any emotion for any of the characters. Like "Titanic", everyone knows what happens how so you set this movie apart? A love story usually works. It certainly did with "Titanic". Rose and Jack were wonderful characters and you cared what happened to them. But the Rafe-Danny-Evelyn triangle is too contrived and just doesn't cut it. So to wrap this up, as a 50 something, whose father was a WW II Marine and who grew up with the outrage of the sneak attack, I think this was a worthy effort. I recommend this movie to everyone. While it may not be history (100% anyway) it IS entertaining.