At first I hated it, but then....

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2016)

I'm going to say there may be spoilers in this - just to be safe!
When this movie first came out I was very eager to see it. Before I did, I learned that none of the characters were real, etc so I decided not to see it.
I DID however at this same time read the book about the REAL Monuments Men. After which I got around to renting the movie - and I hated it.
Then after awhile I reread the book.
Then over the past year I caught the movie several times on cable.
Then I reread the book one more time - and it finally dawned on me! The enormity of the task the personnel of the Monuments, Fine Art and Archives (MFAA) program faced figuring out where the stolen art caches were hidden, getting to them before the Nazis destroyed them first, if successful then cataloging the pieces in each of the caches, preserving them for transport, determining rightful owners (if possible) and returning them (if possible).
So, how on earth could such a huge undertaking with a staff of 300_ persons be told in a 2-hour movie without some composite characters and only showing highlight events of the whole thing?
Like I say, the more I learned about the whole project, the more I ended up liking this film.