Never trust IMDB user ratings

Life Is Beautiful could be one of the most overrated film I've ever seen. It's contrived, cheesy and banal.

Instead of depicting the gradual changes Italy experienced in its attitude towards Jews in the first hour of the film, we are given Benigni pulling silly faces. This hour of getting to know Guido and setting up his relationship with Dora is painful viewing. It seemed to be a mix of Disney film romance and an awful attempt at Chaplin. The jokes are just not funny at all, they are so bad in fact a cartoon comedy sound effects track wouldn't sound out of place. The set up of the romance is totally unbelievable and depends on totally ridiculous and unbelievable coincidences and situations. All this ruins the pacing of the film as when the second half begins we are all but thrust into an Italy in which Jews are being deported to concentration camps.

While the second half is not as bad as the first, it's still all round pretty awful. Benigni completely fails to effectively depict the horror of concentration camps, so much so that you'd be forgiven for thinking that they were just in a tough jail (a la Cool Hand Luke) in which Guido can pull off his mischievous shenanigans (and sometimes incredibly cheesy ones, like the loud speaker incident) and go where he pleases when he pleases - rather than the horrific forced labour/death camp it's supposed to be. There doesn't seem to be any consequences at all for his shenanigans. The few bad conditions depicted inside the camp don't seem to have any real negative effect on anyone, other than making them look a bit glum. Add to this the incredibly contrived ending and you're really not on to a winner.

The whole film left me rolling my eyes as by and large it completely fails to be anything other than an unfunny slapstick comedy. Nothing at all in this film stands out as exceptional and Benigni's Oscar win is an absolute travesty. This serves as a fantastic reminder of why you should NEVER trust IMDBs user ratings.