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SALT LAKE CITY — Hollywood enjoys producing a good love story, and we have gotten used to the main characters living happily ever after. However, there are quite a few fantastic movies where the boy doesn't get the girl. Some people may not appreciate that more realistic take to filmmaking, but here is a list of five movies that are worth watching.
Although this is a Disney movie geared for children, it is also entertaining for adults and teens. Based on the classic book by Victor Marie Hugo, the cartoon tells the story of the deformed Quasimodo who fights to save the beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda and her discriminated race. While the bell-ringing hunchback doesn't end up with Esmeralda, the movie has several valuable moral lessons in treating everyone with love and respect even if they are different from us.
The famous, broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber was adapted into a fantastic movie in 2004. The Phantom of the Opera is famous for the music, but the storyline is also fascinating. The musical tells the story of a deformed orphan who takes refuge in the cellar of an opera house and develops an incredible talent for composing music and singing. He falls in love with the dancer Christine and becomes her tutor, giving her voice lessons and helping her to further her opera career. However, Christine ends up marrying her childhood sweetheart, Raoul.
While this movie leaves you kind of sad for the lonely, misunderstood Phantom, you also have closure with the fact that Christine was the only person to really show him love instead of fear.
This was an obvious choice for this list as it is possibly one of the most well-known stories for not having a "happily ever after." This 2009 romantic comedy is about a girl who doesn't believe in love and her co-worker that falls in love with her. The story is mostly told through flash backs in a very nonlinear timetable, but it keeps you enthralled the entire movie as the relationship of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel unfolds.
This movie is amazing in the respect that it shows the different perspectives of two people in a relationship and their ideas of how things are progressing. It also demonstrates the reality of a situation versus our unrealized expectations. It is possibly one of the most realistic movies about a budding relationship, and while some people may be bothered that Levitt doesn't end up with Deschanel at the end, I think it is a nice refreshing dose of real life that finally bursts the bubble of Hollywood fakeness.
This doesn't seem like the typical romance movie, and while the plot isn't focused on a relationship, it certainly has the thematic elements of a love story. (And I'm not referring to Wilson.) Tom Hanks plays the role of a Fed-Ex worker that gets plane crashed in the middle of the ocean and survives for four, lonely years on an island. Before Hanks leaves on his flight, he is engaged to long-time girlfriend, Helen Hunt. When Hanks is finally rescued, you totally expect Hunt to be waiting for him with open arms.
However, when Hanks shows up at Hunt's doorstep, she answers the door as a married woman with a family that has moved on. While this may seem unfair, the movie has been celebrated for its realistic nature. It shows the truth about the human spirit and the fight to survive whether physically or emotionally.
This 2012 movie release of the famous comic book hero had some fans cringing and others ecstatic about the portrayal of the American icon. Whether you like how they portrayed Captain America or not, the movie was still a decent film in respects to upholding a love of country and honor over one's own desires. While Captain America is fighting Nazis and the evil master-mind, Red Skull, he also develops a romance with the beautiful, Sgt. Carter.
Needless to say, Captain America makes the noble choice at the end of the movie to save the people of the world rather than save himself so he can be with his true love. The movie leaves you feeling a sense of heroism and pride in the self-sacrifice of members of the military.
What other movies did you enjoy where the guy doesn't end up getting the girl? Let us know on the comment boards, Facebook, or email me.
