"1500 people went into the sea when Titanic sank..."

"from under us. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six. Out of 1500. Afterward the seven hundred people in the boats had nothing to do but wait... wait to die, wait to live, wait for an absolution which would never come." Rose DeWitt Bukatur

Who could resist getting in line and shelling out $7 for this movie?

Okay well, I thought I could. I thought I would hate Titanic and didn't see it until February or March after it was released. Not because I thought the storyline would be bad per se, but more because... well face it, we've known what happened to the Titanic for decades before the movie was even made. It's hard going into a movie like that... knowing that most of the people in the story are going to die before you leave the theater. Almost puts a depressing light on it before you even get there.

So I waited. Actually I waited until it came to my hometown (which in true small town form gets the new releases 1-2 months later) and waited until the last day it was showing even then.

I had already seen the Oprah show with cast and crew and behind the scenes and secrets to making the movie... the latter of which is the stuff that truly impresses me about the movie. Titanic was not only the title, it was the description of the huge undertaking of re-creating the ship, then making it sink, again... both through live shooting as well as computer generated images. Kudos to James Cameron for making it come true.

Upon seeing it, I had to admit that I was pleasantly suprised by the story. Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is easy to identify with as a girl who doesn't feel like she fits in where she is and when real love comes along she realizes what she has been missing. Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the easy going, wanderer who wins his trip on Titanic with a "lucky" hand of poker. After saving a troubled Rose who is prepared to jump off the back of the ship in angst, he wins her heart with his honest, full-of-life attitude.

Taking the storyline right out of one of the most horrific historical events only makes it capture the audience all the more because it is hard to belive that anyone *really* endured the sinking of the ship let alone to make us relate to someone who may have died in it.

Other great supporting cast and familiar faces include Billy Zane as Cal Hockley, Kathy Bates as Molly Brown, Bill Paxton as Brock Lovitt, Eric Braeden as John Jacob Astor, Francis Fisher as Ruth Dewitt Bukater, and the wonderful Gloria Stuart who plays the aged Rose who goes back to that fateful night and brings the story (and the movie) to life.

As far as the story goes, I loved it, but I will have to admit I was a little disappointed that Jack died after seeing Rose and Jack overcome so many obstacles in their short time together. But I do understand the purpose and so I got over it. And I suppose they can't all be mushy, sappy, happily-ever-after endings anyway.