Since this film is based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, let's start off with a quick recap of the Sparks formula: two people meet and fall in love, much trial and tribulation occurs, tragedy strikes and the love becomes stronger, someone in the story dies. Now, this isn't true for every single one of his novels, or the movies based on them, but it is the way he works the majority of his magic. Having not read the book before seeing the movie, I kind of expected more typical Sparks fare. And while yes, this is a love story, it is anything but typical Sparks. And that is why I enjoyed it.

Anyone who even knows me a little bit is aware that I don't particularly enjoy any kind of tear-jerker. I don't mind stories that make me think, stories that make me laugh, or stories that have an overly obvious moral. What I enjoy most, though, is stories where the writers have a good handle on their characters, where I actually believe that in the situation set up for me on the screen or the page, the character would react in a way consistent with their development. I'm a sucker for character development. And John and Savannah do just that. While the romantic in the audience wants Savannah to wait around while John completes his extra tour in the military, the person who has seen her as selfless, always putting someone else first, completely understands why she marries someone else. And the romantic might expect John to enter her life with all the bravado of an old Western hero, whisking her away to be with him like she was supposed to be all along, but the person who has watched him grow throughout the film knows why he makes the choice he does. That is what keeps this from being a movie that makes you want to cry.

This is not your average love story. It's more about how love changes you than how love sweeps you off your feet. And for that, it is a great movie. People who go into this expecting it to be The Notebook will be disappointed. But that doesn't change the fact that it is still one of the better films based on a Sparks novel I've seen.