Not impressed and quite annoyed

Rating: 2/10 (11 September 2013)

Alright, so I have been reading some of the reviews and debates around here and I'd like to add my two cents. I watched the movie without high expectations and I got what I was expecting plus some irritating moments.
Good things: the tsunami scene(s) I felt where beautifully shot and portrayed. It came suddenly and furiously it kept me glued to the seat. That's about it as far as "the good stuff" is concerned for me
Cons:
1. Horrible wooden acting. The boy playing the leading child character was so stiff and annoyed me to no end...the only one doing a decent job was Naomi Watts, but by no means was I blown away. The bad acting made the characters completely void of personality and their "family connection" mostly had no depth.
2.Product placement: when the kid found the coca cola can I literally burst out laughing at how weird it felt...
3. This is not a film about the "triumph of the human spirit" unless you think the human spirit triumphs through watered-down-soap-opera coincidences and feel-good endings (although the ending didn't feel good for me). Actually it just felt overall like an average TV movie.
4. While I read some of the one-liners and debates around here, on one side or another, there is no way I can understand how so many still feel it is OK to focus on Western suffering and present it so shamelessly as "the triumph of the human spirit". People will say this was a story about this family (not the original Spanish one mind you) and that's just the focus of the film. OK. Fine! Now please just take a second and think about all the stories you see about families like this and all the stories you don't see about other types of families, about long lasting problems and serious decision-making. Neah, we don't want to see that, we just want to see middle-class (upper?) white people triumph, because if they triumph surely the "human spirit" triumphs...in a movie about a horrible natural disaster that left poor countries poorer and fighting with the aftermath still for years so come...really??really?
5. That ending! Not a feel good ending for me, as it made me realize once more what a twisted socially unjust world this is. And before anyone starts screaming, yes, I was happy they were alright. Not happy at the despair they left behind and at the empty seats in the plane. Yes, you can feel both: happy for those who make it and still outraged at a world where your money and nationality can save you. These are two different things. And playing the emotional card and saying that I should just feel for this family and leave it at that really is just beating around the bush and slamming the proverbial straw-man, while remaining so Western-centric it makes me dizzy.
Institutional racism is, among other things, about making the white story "THE STORY" and about downplaying everything else (and oh, was there a lot downplayed here). This film, as evident from a lot of the reviews, excels at this. This is the only thing its really good at. Well, hooray for that...(sarcasm pouring here).
Gave it two stars for the tsunami scenes and for Naomi Watts. As far as I am concerned that's all it deserves.