Kate & Leopold is a rather charming hybrid of the romantic comedy and the time travel movie. They combine well, conjuring a sort of "romance across the ages" mystique that works pretty well. But the beauty of this movie is in the details. I liked the way Leopold, a visitor from the past, discovers and reacts to the modern age. A lot of movies figure that, were someone to be transported into the future, he'd be so daunted by modern culture and technology as to be overwhelmed beyond all ability to function. Of course, this is silly. People are smarter and more adaptable than movies like this (and others, too) figure. But how would someone from the past react to today? So much in culture and technology has changed in just a few decades. The differences a time traveller would pick up on would doubtless be more than the obvious: there would be countless little things, too. It's an experience beyond the scope of any movie, I think, to do justice. But I enjoyed how Kate & Leopold, a movie that is not even really about time travel, went about the task.

More central to the theme of the movie is the devolution of courtesy and manner and taste and, of course, the romance between the title characters. All these elements combine in a likeable, if not exactly revolutionary, fashion.