Review of Kate & Leopold (2001) by M B — 19 Jul 2008

In the Spirit of 'Back to the Future'. This is another one of those movies where I walked past the video box a million times, rolling my eyes, thinking 'this looks soooo lame!' However, after reading a fantastic account of director James Mangold's career in the book, 'My First Movie', I had to check this one out. Plus, over the years I've come to really admire Hugh Jackman's acting talents.

Yes, 'Kate and Leopold' is a time travel fantasy, but first and foremost it's a romance between a man and a woman from wildly different cultural backgrounds.

(aristocratic, 19th-Century New York and middle-class, 21st-Century New York). Mangold wisely chose to focus on this aspect of the story and downplay the 'fish out of water' theme of previous time-travel movies. For example, on the DVD's commentary track, Mangold states he could have made an entire film about Hugh Jackman marveling over the combustion engine. However, this most definitely would have been the wrong approach. The comedy and heart of the film comes from its primary focus on the differences between 19th and 21st Century male and female relationships.

The bottom line is that I was incredibly skeptical of this film and I ended up loving it. I recommend that other skeptics to give it a shot too.