Not exactly excellent, but a beautifully moving and epic film

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2012)

Back at the 90s when I was a little child, I loved all of the films that came out at the time, but I never heard of James Cameron before until at 2009, when that guy made his sci-fi epic "Avatar", I saw it and loved it as much as anyone else despite it's flawed story (loved the concept, by the way) and considered one of the best movies James Cameron has ever made since the first two Terminator movies (I've watched them and I thought they were completely epic) and Aliens. So, I decided to watch this on a VHS copy that I used to have until it vanished and I was officially moved by it.
Before I could get to the positive aspects, I've heard some criticisms from other people who said that this is an extremely overlong and overrated film. Well, I will admit that this film does have some flaws, they're outweighed by it's redeeming qualities. The three hour length is longer, but I was impressed at how the it moves very quickly and the script, while staying true to the tragedy of the ship, has it's cheesy moments. The film looks very pretty and the look of the ship is beautiful. It also has some gorgeous costumes and very solid special effects. The music from James Horner is lovely and is one of his best scores in a feature film so far especially the heart-rendering song "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion and is one of the best music songs in cinema history.
The direction from James Cameron is amazing and helps the story with complete focus while giving a intriguing atmosphere to it. The story is very rich in detail, gives the characters a lot of development perfectly and the love story, while obvious, is really moving. The strongest aspects, however, goes to the climax of the movie for has drama, heart, and comedy perfectly mixed together and a flawless cast to make the characters more interesting, emotive, and likable. Leonardo Di Caprio gives out one of his best performances as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet is lovely as Rose, and Billy Zane is a great villain due to his deliciously cartoony and over-the-top performance. Other actors like Kathy Bates, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill, and more did well with their roles and the character development along with their interactions with the main characters were amazing.
Overall, Titanic isn't nearly as excellent as James Cameron's previous films, but this is a beautifully moving and a 15-year old epic film that will always be recommended to others as one of the best movies ever made in cinema. With all my heart, this deserves a thumbs up from me.