Love Beats That Sinking Feeling

In “Titanic,” the love between a first-class debutante trapped in a dutiful engagement and a poor-but-brash young artist in steerage transcends the real-life horror of the 1912 sinking of the world’s largest ship. (Rated PG-13)

*

Thirteen-year-old Andre White wasn’t quite ready for so much romance in a disaster film. “It’s a girls’ movie,” he sniffed opening night. But the Irvine teen was drowned out by a chorus of superlatives from both boys and girls--but mostly girls--astonished by the intensity of feeling generated by the three-hour epic.

“It was the most emotional movie I’ve ever seen,” said Corinne Lynch, 17, of Irvine. For her, that equaled “the best movie I’ve ever seen.”

A group of middle-school girls came out shivering and crying.

For some, the reason was knowing the disaster they witnessed in graphic detail had actually happened to 2,200 people. Images that stuck in their minds included an elderly couple holding each other in bed, waiting for the end, a mother reading to her children, and the captain at the helm going down with the ship.

For many, it was clearly the attraction of boyishly sexy superstar Leonardo DiCaprio, who played the romantic lead, Jack Dawson, opposite the unconventionally beautiful Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater.

“Whoever was the caster, I want to kiss him. Him with her was perfect,” said Tricia Pippen, 15, of Irvine. What’s more, she observed, the villains were deliciously hateful. “Everyone was perfect throughout the whole movie.”

“I love him. Period,” said Desiree Kidd, 14, of Irvine.

Some girls said they even like DiCaprio’s acting. “When he goes into his parts, you actually believe he’s actually there,” said Tricia Pippen, 15, of Irvine.

“He’s captivating,” added friend Simone Kozuharov, 17, of Newport Beach. “When he’s on the screen, you, like, feel a connection. He has a presence about him. It’s not just the looks.”

Their friend Erin Horne, 16, of Costa Mesa wasn’t afraid to admit it: “I’m shallow. He’s good-looking. He has that pretty look to him, but on him, it’s a really good look. I can go for that look.”

All agreed that the three hours sped by as they were sucked into the story, related in flashback by Rose (at age 101). They were gripped by the wreckage divers searching for Rose’s famous diamond, the opulence of the scenery and, finally, the chaos of the ship’s final moments after an iceberg sliced open its hull.

“They put a lot of stuff in it for three hours,” said Brian Druding, 12, of Irvine, who sat through the movie twice. “You couldn’t shorten it up at all.”

Brian didn’t mind the romance so much (which included a scene of Jack sketching Rose in the nude and steamy sex in the back seat of a Model T) but rated those scenes a B-plus compared to an A for the action, particularly the flooding of the lower decks, the graphic details of bodies falling into the icy waters and the fighting among classes over who would get into the limited number of lifeboats.

Despite the film’s $200-million price tag, some kids were unimpressed by effects that seemed obviously staged or computer generated. “The bodies were too fake,” said Chase Hoeven, 14, of Newport Beach.

For older teens, the movie provoked thoughts about how they would behave in a disaster when only a few could survive--and about the value of true love. Tricia was moved by the plight of Rose, who seemingly had no choice but to marry a haughty industrialist (Billy Zane).

“She didn’t love him but was going to marry him because her mom said they needed the money. It makes you think--do you really want to live with a person for this factor or go with another person because you love that person?”

*

PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVE: “I’d compare it to ‘Schindler’s List,’ ” said Jim Druding, who took his wife, children and visiting mother-in-law. “It’s a good movie for kids because it makes history come alive.

“I don’t think the nudity is really needed for the plot. To me, that was just gratuitous. Without those scenes, the movie would have been every bit as good.”