Thought this movie was pretty good unlike other comments.

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2001)

My family consisting of mature adults and a young adult enjoyed the story. I get the impression that some of the negative comments about this story are written by young people with zero understanding of life in the 40's to 60's. Young men really did believe it was the right thing to do - even thought they didn't really want to- to go and defend freedom for all.

Although the the Love story appeared to be a takeoff on Titanic it is a common format and gave us a look at the lives of people entering the war at that time. I believe the characters were accurate of the "flyboy" type person. The story of Pearl Harbor was the backdrop. But the action of the war scenes did overpower the love story somewhat.
The Col. Jimmy Doolittle raid was not an "avenging act" but was to show the Japanese that we would not sit still for that kind behavior. Not said in the movie the the lack of cultural understanding by either side. The Japanese thought we would be intimidated, demoralized and not fight back. This raid showed a different view. That's what Roosevelt wanted. This was a morale booster to get the Americans to do a hard thing - fight a war (see "Saving Private Ryan" to see how hard.)
A similar movie (not about Pearl Harbor)that I saw on rerun was "Racing with the Moon" (1984) with Sean Penn. Also about two boys & love and about ready to to go to war. Check it out.