Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

At an Arctic oil site, elderly Inuit Avik (Jason Scott Lee) befriends the newly arrived Mapmaker (John Cusack). As a boy, Avik's tribe is visited by cartographer Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin). He falls ill from tuberculosis and Walter takes him to a Montreal hospital. He meets and punches Métis girl Albertine. She punches back and they're in love. Years later, Walter returns to find a stranded U-Boat. Avik has been shunned for being bad luck. Abandoned by his people, he goes south to join the war and becomes a bombardier. In England, he runs into Albertine (Anne Parillaud) who is now having an affair with Walter.This is an epic of tragic romance. It has a fable quality. The plot does jump sometimes. The little kids are really charming. They have real chemistry. The adult versions have a little less chemistry. They don't have anything as cool as punching each other although having sex on a barrage balloon is very different. The most emotional moments have to be the grandmother when Avik leaves her twice. Her's is a devastating heart-break. There is a lot of story here and director Vincent Ward does a pretty good job. While there are big war action, it could be done with more thrills. There are also lots of surreal scenes which could be improved with a more imaginative camera. Nevertheless, this is a memorable unique film.

There is probably a great book behind this movie, because the epic sweep of the story is interesting, ranging from the 1920s in the Canadian north, through World War II, to a return to the north in the 1960s. However, the characters are so underdeveloped, the script so disjointed, and the motivations so vague that it is difficult to comprehend what they were trying to achieve in this film. Consequently, I can't recommend it. I'm not sure what the other reviewer saw in this film, but this is not a great love story, it's not even a good attempt at a love story. As an attempt to present a slice of history it is also a disappointment, so shallow and unrealistic in its portrayal of events like the Dresden bombing that you really don't understand the horror. It's almost as if the firebombing was done just because one British officer was dumped by a German girl before the war,

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen....I never want to see it again.Why don't I want to see it? Its simply depressing. I can't watch it with out becoming suicidal. This is the story of two ill fated lovers over the early and mid part of the 20th century. Its told in flashback in a fishing village in Canada.What can I say? This is a film of great performances and moments, the firestorm in Dresden gives me nightmares.I would love to recommend the film, but its ultimately so bleak I don't know many people who would want to see it.Still I give it 10 out of 10 simply because it provokes such a deep reaction in me.

In "Map of the Human Heart", a down and out middle aged Eskimo man recounts his life story to an Arctic cartographer (Cusack, who has only a few minutes on screen) which constitutes the bulk of the film via flashback. His story begins with his puppy love relationship with a young half-breed girl in a hospital. From there the adorable child couple are torn apart only to have fate bring them together again as adults under the less than idyllic circumstances of WWII. The film meanders from the dramatic to the poignant to the romantic to the horrific and back to square one where it continues the story in present day. Beautifully filmed and well executed though a bit clumsy at times, "Map..." spackles up its many plot holes and provides a thoughtful fantasy camouflage for its lack of resolution in the end while serving up very pretty Kodak moments such as making love on a barrage balloon or dancing in the rafters high above an orchestra. "Map..." is sweet stuff for romantics and sentimentalists who can overlook it continuity and credibility issues in the interest of the human heart. (B)