With the predictable drama of an overproduced hollywood story, this film gave me every opportunity to dislike it for being too long, too naive and much too melodramitically safe. But in the end I was rewarded with an appreciation of this film as a solid hollywood product. Good acting, good cinematography, good editing, pretty people, great costumes, good guys, bad guys, wars, drunks, magic, romance, a loveable kid and even throw in a crocadile; these `based on historical fact' elements and more show up to give you 3 hours of a Titanic-ish film without any hit theme song. Not an award winner, but I was entertained.