A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help. (IMDb)

I had heard so many negative things about this movie I was prepared to absolutely hate it.  Usually I'm very open minded, but I went to this screening with the preconceived notion that it was bad and I was going to be mad at Will Smith for making it.   

I wasn't wrong.

This movie was a story of the journey a teenager went through as he grew from a scared little boy, into a "courageous" young man.  He manages to save himself and his father from a hostile environment, simultaneously mending many unspoken hurts they are both holding onto.  The depth of pain is clearly evident in the father, but the son...well, not everyone has a passion and calling for acting. I didn't like this movie and was unbelievably disappointed. 

I need to be honest.  I was not looking forward to this screening.  It's been many, many years since I was forced to read the book,  I'm not a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, and Tobey Maguire is Spider-Man.  While all of my reasons are relatively valid, I must admit that they are precarious close to being called hooey.  Apparently, I was a cotton-headed ninny muggins for whining and complaining about seeing this movie.  (This is as close as I'm getting to admitting that Maymay was right and I was wrong.)

This movie is a must see.  It has romance, drama, intrigue, suspense, murder, mayhem, obsession, and a screaming goat.  (Alright, the goat part is a lie.)  It is a manly movie and a complete chick-flick.  Although it is a long movie, more than two hours, it kept me interested the entire time.  I honestly didn't notice the length of the movie.  Gatsby is a beautiful and artistic movie.  The party scenes are an explosion of color, beauty, music, and dancing.  I've never wanted to attend a party more in my life.

I believe that Leonardo DiCaprio played Gatsby beautifully.  I'd go as far as saying that it might be his best performance.   He said so much with his demeanor and expressions without uttering a single line.  Although he had moments where it could easily be said he just brooded a bit much, he was a believable and intriguing Gatsby.  

I was not happy about Spider-Man being cast as Nick Carraway, but Tobey Maguire did a much better job than I expected.  I was not a fan of his lack of depth in the beginning of the movie, but realized that Nick Carraway was a naive young man with no real concept of what he was getting himself into, so maybe Tobey was better than I'm giving him credit for.  I have to say, at the end of the movie, I was completely a fan of Tobey as Nick, and his anger and grief seemed completely genuine.

This is a movie that you should see with a group of friends.  Then you can have many detailed, deep intellectual discussions about the movie, the characters, and what the writer meant while drinking some delicious yet over priced coffee.  Or, just see it and enjoy all that is the Great Gatsby.   The one thing this movie has left me with is the desire to re-read the book.