2003 Was A Year Of Pleasing, Yet Puzzling, Movies

What can be said about the year in movies for 2003? I would love to come up with a pithy phrase that would sum up the last 12 months, but perhaps one of the most pleasing – and yet puzzling – aspects of the year was its surprises (pleasing) and inconsistencies (puzzling). For instance, whereas the summer movie season got off to a rousing start with the superior sequel, X2, it came to a whimpering finish with a dry spell of uninteresting film releases that were littered across August and September.

Even as the year closes strong with the release of the final film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and a slew of big, Oscar-caliber selections coming out on Christmas day and following, it is also marred by the fact that very few memorable films were released before we were halfway through the year. Well, I’ll get more into my specific choices for this year’s “Best of” selections in January (after the Oscar nominations are revealed), but for now let’s take a look at some of the more memorable cinematic moments from 2003.

*Movie That Most Lived Up to its Hype: Not surprisingly, the first and only film that comes to mind as head of this category is the current box office champ, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. At a running time of just over 200 minutes (the longest of the series), the film is the first of director Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations to actually feel like a three-hour movie (almost all of which could be attributed to a very drawn-out ending, but more on that in another column).

It is so assured in its storytelling, however, and its actors have so endeared themselves to us and their take on their fantastic world of Middle-earth, that one would have to be a complete Scrooge to look down their nose at this polished, crowd-pleasing flick.

Runner-Up: Bryan Singer’s exciting and expansive X2.

*Movie That Most Collapsed Under the Weight of its Hype: Hmmmmm... let’s see. Unfortunately, there are quite a bit of stinkers from which to choose for this unenviable award. But the prize has got to go to the combination of Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions.

Whereas Reloaded was simply disappointing (albeit more than mildly entertaining), it’s ultimate standing was dependent on how Revolutions wrapped up its open-ended storyline. Alas, that was bad news for both Reloaded and the Matrix series as a whole. As a big fan of the first film, I can only say that Reloaded and Revolutions are dead to me.

Runner-Up: The Cat in the Hat not only fell far short of its hype, it failed to be of any entertainment value whatsoever. Ugh!

*Most Fun Movie of 2003: Who’d have thought that a movie based on a Disney theme park ride and starring the ever talented, but ever-eccentric Johnny Depp would score with critics and audiences alike as one of the most engaging, fun movies of the year? Oh, and did I forget to mention it’s about pirates?

Nevertheless, Pirates of the Caribbean, also starring Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, was the ultimate summer popcorn flick and audiences rewarded it by making it the second-highest grossing film of the year.

Runner-Up: Knightley seems to be the common thread throughout the year’s most fun movies, considering she also had roles in two other enjoyable films, namely Bend it Like Beckham and Love Actually.

*Movie Most Worthy of a Second Viewing: All of Pixar’s computer-animated features (including Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.) reward additional viewings, but Finding Nemo arguably wins out, not only for its heartfelt storytelling, witty screenplay and clever in-jokes, but for the colorful, dazzling beauty of its animation and the rich underwater tapestry created by the talented folks at this studio.

Runner-Up: We’ve already mentioned one sea-faring adventure on our list, but another swashbuckling adventure, Master and Commander should receive some attention as not only a rousing adventure film, but a capably crafted, well-played historical fiction that spends as much time honing its characters as it does perfecting a sense of period and setting.