The Notebook is a romantic drama based on the equally titled novel by Nicholas Sparks. Everyone agreed it was a great movie when it came out in 2004, but the question is: is it still today?

Story

The Notebook follows the lives of Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton. Noah is a poor man with a strong heart. You work hard every day, but you barely have a penny to spend. Allie, on the other hand, is born into a wealthy family and her parents are of the highest ranks in society. But Ellie and Noah fall in love and everything seems perfect, that is until they meet the parents. Allie’s parents want her to marry a rich man to continue the tradition and they will do everything they can to get her away from Noah. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll stop here. The bottom line is that the story is really good and it keeps you guessing and waiting all the time. But it’s unfortunate that the characters surrounding Allie and Noah don’t seem to evolve at all and in the end I realized that I actually knew very little about Allie. What does she do for a living? What are your fears? Many questions were left unanswered and personally I found the focus of the story a bit too narrow at times. Showing only the connection between the main characters in the Notebook and leaving everything else and the unique personalities of the characters in the shadows.

Presentation

Like any good movie, this one made the leap to blu-ray recently. Unfortunately, that’s not the version I tried, thankfully, although the DVD version is top-notch. The video quality is sharp, as is the audio. Aaron Zigman’s incredible soundtrack completes the package. In simple terms of presentation, I have no complaints. Of course it is not Blu-ray quality, but the DVD version is one of the best.

Conclution

The Notebook is a great love story, but overall a decent story. Other than Ellie and Noah’s relationship, nothing seems to evolve. Fortunately, their magical relationship will keep you glued to your couch until the end credits roll. And that’s why this movie does everything you expect it to do and a little more. It gives you an escape from reality and shows you how great love can be, although hardly anyone will experience such a thing in real life.

Review of the notebook