That was an excellent one.

Just perfect...

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

In a list of greatest directors, David Lean should be on everybody's short list and this may be his best movie. The leads are all perfect for their roles--strange to say with an Egyptian playing a Russian doctor, but Omar Sharif seemed perfect in any role. Strangely, the weakest portrayal may be Alec Guiness with his patent British accent.The pacing is typical Lean, deliberate with many pauses to take in what you've seen and set the stage for the next scenes. This may make for poor viewing at home, where you can be more distracted than in a theater or take too many breaks. Too bad, you need to watch it all the way through to really feel the emotions.

You really do miss something when you see a formatted version of Doctor Zhivago as I recently did. This is the kind of film that was made literally for the big screen. It's what epic movie making is all about.

60's has some epic movies, be it Drama or Romance, History, Fiction etc. That fair and grandeur is missing these days. Doctor Zhivago is a timeless epic movie, one can watch it again and again and would find it interesting. It spreads over 3 hrs but still very gripping and glues the viewers. Everything is very well worked out in detail ... sets, locations (not shot in Russia but no one would miss that), narrative, cast etc. All the characters fit their role very well. Omar Sharif is a powerhouse of acting and this movie along with many are testimony to that. Julie Christie looks tantalizingly beautiful. I would say she is one of the most beautiful actress of all time. It has drama, romance and is also tragic. In the end Yuri reaching out for Lara, trying to call her and not able to do so is very touching. One also sees the dark side of Communism in patches. Perhaps that is why this movie was banned in Russia and not shot there. I wish I had seen it on big screen. It would have looked much more magnificent. There shouldn't be any remakes of such movies. They should be preserved for generations. One can visit that time-line and or get an idea of things from such classics.

Honestly, this movie made me feel like I was wandering the Russian tundra.Anyway, I was initially excited to finally see this movie. However, by the time it got to the intermission, I debated giving up on it. The biggest problem with the whole script, the reason why the movie lacks any drive, any momentum, any tension, is because the heart of the story is missing. Dr. Zhivago's marriage to Tonya is one of love and friendship but she's supposedly not his true love. Then, Zhivago spends 6 months with the gorgeous Lara and falls in love. However, the movie skips from him arriving at his post and seeing Lara again to him leaving and them already in love. We don't see their relationship grow, develop, unfold. It's a gaping hole in the middle of the movie. On top of that, their affair is purely emotional at this point and not physical which if we saw their relationship develop, it would actually build tension. Their love story was critical to, at least, my emotional involvement in the plot. Without seeing what was so enthralling about Lara, you kind of feel like what was he missing from the pretty and sweet Tonya?There are parts of the movie worthy praise especially on a technical front. However, the movie was ultimately long and boring.