Promising but does not deliver

Rating: 1/10 (10 May 2006)

The New World has the promise of being an important movie, but falters.
Perhaps all the details were wrong only to make the viewer realize that this is a story about 'love', and not a portrayal of actual events.
However, the setting and story-line are too important to my frame of reference into the fantasy of time travel to be 'just' another exploration of what 'love' is. It would have been better had this movie been set in the Midwest with amateur actors! Perhaps Indiana! Then, the question by the beautiful natural of "Did you find your Indies?" could have been answered, "Yes, it's south of Indianapolis."
However, the movie is set in Jamestown, and the girl seems to float bewitchingly between two cultures, one of which is 'natural' and one of which is attempting to destroy and have domain over all that is natural.
I was left with wondering "How did she escape being despoiled?", or worse, to feel like "Well, genocide is not as bad as I thought it might be." Therefore, I feel the movie had promise but did not deliver.