Amazon.co.uk Review
With refreshing intelligence,
A Walk to Remember offers welcome relief from the recent onslaught of teen-movie crudeness. Adapted from the
novel by Nicholas Sparks and transplanted from 1958 to the present day, this admirable teen romance recognises that two 18-year-olds--Landon (Shane West) and Jamie (pop singer Mandy Moore)--can be smart, mature and sensible about the very real love they share. He's a popular kid in the cool crowd. She's got a goody-goody reputation as the dowdy daughter of a local minister (Peter Coyote); her values and priorities aren't rooted in peer pressure, and Landon feels blessed by her self-assured nobility. Their mutual affection inevitably heads into
Love Story territory, but the movie is honest enough to survive its own schmaltz, and its attractive cast (including Daryl Hannah as Landon's mum) embraces a tone of sincerity and mutual respect. Finally, a teen movie with teens you can admire. --
Jeff Shannon
Synopsis
Landon Carter (Shane West) and his friends are the coolest kids in Beaufort, North Carolina. They wear the right clothes, drive the right cars, and get into just enough trouble to be rebellious. Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore) is the opposite--there doesn't seem to be anything cool about her. The preacher's daughter, plain Jamie wears big boxy dresses and the same sweater every day. She endures the scorn of Landon and his friends with a smile, always looking for the best in people. When a prank planned by Landon and his friend goes terribly wrong, the principal sentences him to tutoring on the weekends and working on the school play, activities in which Jamie is involved. As the two begin spending time together, Landon finds himself intrigued by this guileless girl who sees beauty in everything and exhibits unwavering faith in people and in the world. When circumstances beyond Landon and Jamie's control threaten their love, he stays by her side and does everything he can to make her dreams come true. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.