Pretty, but not much of a movie

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2006)

While I found the movie entertaining, I was disappointed by the film's structure. The film is about the fear of dying. The emotions were all there and terrific, with acting solid. But, the film is more of a metaphor/allegory for trying to come to terms with death, than a filmic story. I guess if you go into the film expecting to get a filmic poem, you may not be disappointed. I personally felt they could have kept the poeticism and lengthened the movie into a cohesive narrative story. Perhaps that was the original intent, as I heard the studios had the filmmakers shorten and completely change the original script. As it stands, the ending happens suddenly, and is a let-down. The message it sends isn't surprising, and maybe fleshed-out more could've been effective. It looks like the film could've been amazing. Still, the visuals are cool, the ride, while bumpy here and there, was neat fun, and it was never less than entertaining. Maybe there'll be a director's cut on DVD or something, I'm not sure. I'll keep my fingers crossed.