By Maria Tovar

Friday, April 24, 2015, the movie The Age of Adaline beat all sales records with a total gross of $4.9 million dollars. The romantic fantasy drama explores the story of a woman, Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively), who becomes immune to the natural process of aging after a serious car wreck at the age of 29 in the year 1935.  Adeline’s life changes forever after she meets a man, Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman) who makes Adaline want to abandon her immortality and grow old with Ellis.

The Age of Adaline contains wonderful acting by Gossip Girl star Blake Lively, who plays the leading role. Adaline is wise, sophisticated, and can speak several languages. Blake Lively portrays Adaline’s character with a knowledgeable look, a timid smile, and a strong personality. Michiel Huisman plays the wonderful Ellis Jones, the man who becomes Adaline’s lover, a handsome philanthropist who wins the heart of Adaline for the first time in many decades. Ellis is kind, humble, and daring. Another magnificent star, Harrison Ford, plays Ellis’ father, an astronomer who happened to have a short love affair with Adaline during the 1960’s.

Adaline has to spend the rest of her life running and changing identities every couple of years so people will not notice the fact that she never ages. Whenever somebody notices her immortality, she quickly goes home, packs her things, and runs as far from the place as possible.

The film is important for actress Blake Lively, because it is her first big movie role. The whole film is about her, and there are no other main characters, so it highlights Blake Lively’s acting skills.  Michael Huisman also has a strong character in the movie; as a supporting actor he is able to show the audience his ability to act.

Movie comments were mixed; some people liked it, and some people thought the story was dull and superficial. College student, John Ordonez said, “I expected the movie to be a boring romance, but it really turned out to be a wonderful story with a different twist than what I always see in the other films.” On the other hand, Lady Phillips said, “I think that Adaline lacked emotion; in her character I just saw a pretty girl and nothing else.”

The cinematography of the movie was impressive; some of the locations where the movie was filmed were breath taking. The story goes from the present time, 2015, to the past years, so it has a lot of different costumes, antique cars, and beautiful landscapes. In one of the scenes, Adaline is driving at the English countryside and the place looks like it’s out of a fairy tale. Lisbeth Castro said, “The costumes made me want to have lived during those times; they were all so beautiful.” In another scene, the location was the Golden Gate Bridge during its construction, and the scenery was really marvelous.

The Age of Adaline broke several records on its premier weekend. The day of its release, it was the most grossing movie, beating the Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (comedy) and unseating Furious 7 (action film), which has been in the top sales since its first day of release on April 3, 2015.

The success of the movie was due to the difference in the plot of the story. The Age of Adaline has a fantasy twist, which makes the film seem a human fairy tale. There are not many romantic fantasy dramas; the film was perfect for a date night. Diego Castro said, “I liked the whole scientific explanation, even though it was not true, I believed the whole story. I thought it was very interesting.” The Age of Adaline is expected to gross +$13 million.

Images and trailer are property of Lionsgate Entertainment.