Starring: Shane West, Mandy Moore, Peter Coyote, Daryl Hannah, Al Thompson, Lauren German, Matt Lutz. Director: Adam Shankman Writer: Karen Janszen Studios: Warner Bros. Pictures, Pandora Films. Rated: PG (for thematic elements, language, and some sensual material) Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes Year: 2002 Five new movies opened this weekend. I wanted to see all five, mainly The Count Of Monte Cristo and The Mothman Prophecies. While I managed to catch the count in action, the mothman I did not get a chance to see. Instead, I decided to go see the new teen drama A Walk To Remember, which was high on my list of films to see, but not in the top three. And suprisingly, what looked like a Here On Earth clone is actually a pretty decent movie. The story follows Landon Carter (Shane West) and Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore), two opposites who lead two very different lives. After Landon is sentenced to community service work, the two meet because Jamie is doing it with her own will. They also star in the school play together, which is how they become friends. The only problem is that he does not want to be seen with her in front of his friends, considering she is a geek and he is popular. She doesn't want to be friends with him after an incident at school, but after he saves her from ridicule, she thinks otherwise. He gives up hs friends for her, even though Jamie's father Reverend Sullivan (Peter Coyote) has not taken a liking to him. Jamie has a list of things she wants to accomplish, which include marrying in the church her mother married in, and seeing a comet in the sky with her telescope. She inspires Landon to be different, which makes his mother (Daryl Hannah) happy since it is different from his usual bad behavior. But Jamie has a secret which she later reveals to Landon (SPOILERS, swipe to see). Jamie is dying from leukemia, she has been for two years. After finding this out, Landon decides to try and make all of Jamie's dreams come true before her time comes. The rest of the movie chronicles him doing that, and the reaction of the other students to Jamie's problem. It isn't the best part of the movie, but it isn't Here On Earth, the worst teen drama ever made. The acting is decent. Mandy Moore, who was first seen in last summer's The Princess Diaries and is also a professional singer, does well for herself in this role, as does Shane West, whose previous film roles include the forgettable Whatever It Takes and Dracula 2000. In closing, this is a harmless romance which is better than most are saying. Though tacky near the end, it is still worth a watch. ***1/2 stars                                            --Cory Thompson The trailers with this film were the new teen comedy The New Guy, the Britney Spears coming-of-age comedy Crossroads, and Scooby Doo, based on the hit cartoon.