A Walk To Remember (DVD)

A Walk to Remember

A typical chick-flick style film that most blokes will not agree to watching, don't read this review if you want to be suprised by it as it pretty much gives away the whole storyline!

**THE PLOT**
The film starts with a group of a few high school students at a lake which is private property. The group are getting another student to take an initiation test to let him join their group. The initiation ...
...be jumped into from such a height. Just as Landon reaches the bottom of the ladder, the sound of police sirens emerges and the rest of the group quickly jump into their cars and drive off. Landon however cannot leave the boy in the middle of the lake like that - he wades in and pulls him to the side of the lake before jumping into his car and trying to escape.

Landon gets caught by the police and is given community service as a punishment ... more

A Walk to Remember

A typical chick-flick style film that most blokes will not agree to watching, don't read this review if you want to be suprised by it as it pretty much gives away the whole storyline!

**THE PLOT**
The film starts with a group of a few high school students at a lake which is private property. The group are getting another student to take an initiation test to let him join their group. The initiation is to climb up to an extreme height, and then off into the lake below. The boy is nervous and about to back out, so group member Landon Carter agrees to jump with him - just as the boy is about to jump however, Landon steps back, leaving him to jump in on his own.

The boy lands in the water, and it is clear to the other members on land that he has seriously injured himself. The water was too shallow to be jumped into from such a height. Just as Landon reaches the bottom of the ladder, the sound of police sirens emerges and the rest of the group quickly jump into their cars and drive off. Landon however cannot leave the boy in the middle of the lake like that - he wades in and pulls him to the side of the lake before jumping into his car and trying to escape.

Landon gets caught by the police and is given community service as a punishment (he was also trespassing on private property, I think this is what the punishment was for rather than anything to do with the boy becoming injured). His community service is things related to school, such as tutoring other students, cleaning, and...taking part in the school play.

It is here that Landon and Jamie meet properly. Landon, despite his protests, is given the lead role in the school play, whilst Jamie, concequently is given the role of leading female. At first, Landon is obviously unimpressed with Jamie, and is embarrased to be seen with one of the school geeks. But he turns to Jamie for help learning his lines, quite predictably, and they begin to develop a freindship from there, although Landon of course doesn't admit this to his popular friends at school.

The plot deepens from here, with Landon slowly beginning to fall for Jamie. "I told you not to fall in love with me." Jamie freaks out for no apparent reason, and then tells Landon the dreaded news - that she is dying.

A touching and tragic storyline develops, with Landon trying to help Jamie tick off things on her list, including things such as be in two places at once, get a tattoo, and even items on her list which she doesn't reveal until later on in the film. Touching moments follow in great quantity, as well as a couple (no more) of unexpected twists, and a few comic moments.

**THE CAST**
Shane West - plays the leading male as Landon Carter. An increasingly well known young actor for films such as Get Over It and Whatever it Takes, West has also been in a number of television series including ER and 'Once and Again'. West acts very well during this film, making his character and the happenings very believeable and likeable.

Mandy Moore - best known as a pop singer, plays the leading female as Jamie Sullivan. Although initially I thought I wouldn't be able to see her as a real actress, she looked very different to how she does in her pop videos - much more serious and natural, her usually blonde hair was even dyed brown for the role, and she looked much more normal. Mandy Moore has also appeared in films The Princess Diaries and Chasing Liberty. Mandy acts her character well and with a good deal of emotion.

Daryl Hannah - plays Cynthia Carter, Landons mother. Of course she is a established actress well known for acting in films such as Kill Bill, Steel Magnolias and, of course, Splash. She plays her (relatively small) role extremely well and convincingly.

Peter Coyote - plays Jamie's father, Reverend Sullivan. Another good actor who has appeared in television series The 4400, Commander in Chief and Lost, as well as films Femme Fatal, Erin Brokovich and countless others. His role, again, is relatively small but effective.

**THE CHARACTERS**
Landon Carter - A good looking and extremely self-obsessed popular high school boy. He is into looking good, and being popular, wearing the right clothes and doing the right things. Him getting given community service as a punishment seems like torture to him, as he has to do all the 'geeky' things - not only cleaning, but tutoring other students and, yes, taking part in the school play! Landon is obviously not all bad though, it is shown from the beginning of the film that he has a good heart, when all his friends leave the poor initiation testing boy in the lake, and he goes back to pull him out before fleeing himself. An unlikely character to go for someone like Jamie, but it works.

Jamie Sullivan - A plain young girl who is not interested in being popular or having fun. Jamie wears unfashionable clothes, doesn't style her hair and tutors other students in her spare time. She also likes astronomy and attends a drama club as well as the church choir. Jamie is very religious and her faith is one thing your reminded of throughout the film. Jamie is one of the unpopular girls in the school who the other students often make fun of, but she seems oblivious to this (most of the time) and is happy to carry on doing as she is. Again, a (possibly too perfect) but all the same very likeable character. You'll be feeling bad for Jamie when the other kids are making fun of her, and happy for her when she comes out for the better.

Cynthia Carter - Landon's mother. Cynthia is disapproving of all of Landon's antics pre-Jamie, for example the trespassing. She plays a very good and believeable character, but I don't think we see enough of her during the film to make her character stand out enough, although this is probably for the best as there wasn't really opportunity for the mother role to be incorporated too much into the film.

Reverend Sullivan - Jamie's father, an extremely strict and old-fashioned man who is disapproving of Landon. Reverend Sullivan's wife died young, leaving him to bring up Jamie alone as best as he could. He is overprotective of Jamie and Landon has to work very hard to win his approval. Another strong character who was well thought about, you will be willing him to accept Landon as someone who does truly care about his daughter.

**THE SOUNDTRACK**
The soundtrack to A Walk To Remember includes a lot of Mandy Moore's own music, you also get to see her actually singing one of these songs in the school play. Although I thought this would have put me off the film making it less believable, I actually enjoyed this part of the film aswell - it was included tastefully without it seeming like it had just been stuck in there to promote her music, unlike some films starring pop singers!!

Songs sang my Mandy Moore herself include 'Cry' and 'Only Hope', which she is shown singing in the school play.

Another song played in the film is Toploaders Dancing in the Moonlight, which is on quite briefly while Jamie and Landon are 'being in two places at once', in a night scene. I loved the choice of song for this scene, maybe because I like the song but I think it fitted the scene perfectly. Switchfoot also played a part in the soundtrack, including again a well selected 'Dare you to Move'.

Overall I think the soundtrack to this film was very well selected, and although perhaps slightly better songs could have replaced a few selected in some places they were generally very good.

**THE PRICE**
You should be able to pick this up for under a tenner from most supermarkets, Asda was recently selling it for £6. You can however pick up a better secondhand bargain, from the lovely ebay, with you being able to bid for the DVD for 99p + postage.

**DVD EXTRAS**
Not a good variety of DVD extras, unfortunately. You get the standard commentaries with the actors - Shane West and Mandy Moore, as well as with the director of the film. There's also a second commentary with Nicholas Sparks, who wrote the 'A Walk to Remember' book that the film was based on. Nothing too original or special in this section I'm afraid, but always worth a watch if you want to get to know more about the actors/director.

Mandy Moore's music video is also included as a DVD extra, for the song 'Cry', which is included in the film.

**THE BAD BITS**
The film is very soppy, which can be a negative depending on the audience! I also found a Walk to Remember quite predictive, although I did actually expect Jamie to become miracuously cured at the end of the film, paticularly as Landon's father is uncovered to be a doctor. Full credit to the writers for not letting her be cured, as the film would have been made much less believable - as much as I wanted Jamie to be cured in the film!

The film also wont appeal to everyone - I found it impossible to get my boyfriend to watch (after about 20 minutes he announced 'Another bloody woman film!' and retreated). Some parts are also a little over the top, but hey, that's what makes it a movie!

**MY OPINION**
I thoroughly enjoyed the film - I initially watched it in the cinema and it had me in tears, and it must have been good for me to purchase it on DVD. I must admit however that I have a soft spot for chick flicks and often like films that my friends find unwatchable!!

A Walk to Remember for me reminded me of how lucky so many of us are to be here, and be healthy. As much as it sounds silly, and as unrealistic as parts of the film were, this type of thing does actually happen to young people like Jamie. This is what makes the film so good, and actually quite deep on some level, as it is not your basic chick flick film - particularly the ending!

It handles illness and tragedy delicately, emotionally and overall very wey.

I also liked the way that Jamie's character did not change throughout the film. Although she gets given another coloured jumper from Landon, that's about as far as he tries to change her - it isn't one of those films where the girl goes from being unattractive and dull to gorgeous, popular and trendy just because she starts dating a popular boy! Whilst Jamie is not fashionable in the film, she is by far portrayed as unattractive - she is merely plain, naturally prettty and disinterested in her looks. I liked her character being this way and was glad that they didn't change her halfway.

**WHOS IT FOR?**
Well I wouldn't recommend for children or very young people as it can actually be upsetting, and younger children wouldn't understand and are likely to become bored. I also wouldn't recommend if you don't like sad films, as it is a very emotional film. I'm always crying at one thing or another, but out of the 6 girlies who went to see this at the cinema quite a few years ago, I remember at least three of us shedding a slight tear, and I still cry when I watch it now even though I know what's going to happen!

Thanks for reading! If there's anything you think I've missed out let me know and I'll add it, I love constructive criticism!

Love Bex
X x X
 

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