Although 'Poseidon' was not all that well received, I actually enjoyed it more than the original, highly acclaimed 'The Poseidon Adventure' (of which 'Poseidon' is a remake), which I found too comical and unbelievable despite its good cast.

'Poseidon' is an action adventure survival thriller, with the focus on the survival element. It doesn't spend much time on character introductions and jumps right into the chaos, so we get to know the characters once their quest for survival begins. Excellent visual effects and a fantastic production design help bring this film to life, making it realistic and conceivable. The capsize scene, especially, was incredibly well done.

The film does follow the same pattern as most disaster films of this genre, with stereotypical characters, and it's always easy to spot the dispensable ones. Essentially, this is a slasher movie - just a different kind of slasher. Due to the film's short running time (94 minutes), it is fast-paced and entertaining throughout and doesn't waste a minute of screen time.

The film features a stellar cast, but I don't think I would have cared who the actors were, as the story was interesting enough and well executed. It is a nail-biter with one primary focus: survival. In my humble opinion, the film succeeded in that aspect. I've watched the movie a few times and enjoy it every time. 'Poseidon' is a disaster movie that delivers.

The remake plays it straight. The original five Oscar winners, including Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters. Are missed here .The remake has only one: Richard Dreyfuss as a gay passenger contemplating suicide. Petersen's stripped-down version jettisons the old script in favor of one by Mark Protosevich that invents new characters and scales their sob stories for short attention spans. Kurt Russell does the stalwart-hero honors as Robert Ramsey, a former mayor of New York who was once a firefighter and is now traveling with his hottie daughter (Emmy Rossum) and her boyfriend (Mike Vogel), hoping they won't have sex, at least not in front of him. That's a lot of baggage for a character to carry when they could have just outfitted Russell with an eye patch, called him Snake Plissken and titled the film Escape From the North Atlantic.

Josh Lucas has the most colorful role, as Dylan Johns, a professional gambler who hits on a young mom (Jacinda Barrett) vacationing with her son (Jimmy Bennett). The rest is spotting familiar faces from TV: That stowaway is Mia Maestro, from Alias, she is gorgeous so that helps.

Director Wolfgang Petersen has the credentials to do a remake of the movie, based on a novel by Paul Gallico. Given that he's got his feet wet enough with Das Boot and The Perfect Storm, and enough experience helming big budgeted summer movies like Air Force One and Troy, however, what's the point of a remake? Perhaps it's for the action sequences, to see how far time has brought us with an update of stunt techniques . You'll end up entertained if you forgive the cliches and let Petersen grab you with the visuals, from the avalanche of water in the ballroom to the eerie sight of a flooded crawl space where wires take on the form of deadly tentacles. You don't expect a remake to spring surprises. This film has a few up its sleeve. Decent summer popcorn flick .

Watch carefully... immediately after the luxury liner Poseidon has been hit by a huge tidal wave and capsized, an inflated life-raft can be seen inexplicably floating by the upturned vessel. Surely the makers of this slick big-budget disaster flick won't bring this conveniently into play at the end of the film, will they? Well, yes, they do. And this is the problem with Poseidon: throughout the film, the audience is expected to accept far too much without question.

When the survivors of the accident, on their way to the surface, face a flooded compartment, they swim underwater aimlessly until they happen upon a pocket of air. Convenient, huh?

When they are trapped in a rapidly flooding air conditioning shaft and need to undo some screws in order to escape drowning, a necklace makes a handy screwdriver. How fortunate is that?

When the only escape route is totally flooded, the ship shifts and the passageway becomes clear. What a stroke of luck!

Now don't get me wrong; I didn't hate Poseidon. In fact, I actually enjoyed Wolfgang Pieterson's update of the 70s classic quite a bit. I just had to completely suspend my belief for an hour and a half in order to do so. Sure, the film is cheesy, full of one-dimensional characters, has a flawed script, and lacks a soul, but it is spectacular, has more than its fair share of white-knuckle moments, and features some superb visual effects.

Let's face it, this remake was never going to outdo the original (and did anyone really think it would?), which benefited from REAL star power and a decent script. But as far as dumb popcorn adventures go, Poseidon is worth a watch—if only for the amazing moment when the wave strikes the ship and all hell breaks loose.