The other Potter and Costner v Newman

Beatrix not Harry. A lot of people adored this film, but I rate it only OK. I have nothing against it. The performances are fine, the cinematography excellent, the animation very good and well integrated; it's just that the story was completely uninteresting. Perhaps those raised on Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck entered into this nice and twee world more readily; I was brought up on 'The tough of the track' and 'I flew with Braddock' and I want more grit.

'Message in a Bottle' was based on the best selling novel by Nicolas Sparks and those who've read the book think the movie a disappointment. Robin Wright-Penn plays a Chicago journalist who finds a message in a bottle from someone who has obviously lost his wife. Kevin Costner plays the youngish widower whom she eventually finds through the research department of the Chicago Tribune. Paul Newman plays his grumpy old dad. The first problem with the film is that even old and half asleep Newman acts Costner off the park. When Kostner is killed in a boating accident near the end, we are all mightily relieved. Wright-Penn can get back to being a half decent journalist, though she would have found hooking up with Newman, old though he is, more rewarding. Again this was a film that looked good, but the story didn't have the legs for more than two hours. Pity. The idea was good.