Ladyhawke

Love stories always have to be a little more spectacular in order to draw an audience to them in the theater or for home viewing, and this tale gives you just enough of everything in order to keep all of the audience happy. The love between two people that is denounced and cursed by someone else in power is an old story, but with the flair of actors like Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer and director Richard Donner this enchanted tale is given a life of its own.
The Mouse, a pickpocket by trade, escapes from a prison cell before execution and runs into a knight with a hawk that are actually cursed lovers who are always together, but eternally apart. The curse used here is from basic mythology, the woman transforms into a hawk during the day and at night the man turns into a wolf, forever bound together. The transformation sequences are basic filmmakers trickery, the change either happens out of camera shot or they do an extreme close up of the actor's eye and when the camera pans back you have the new form. With the love interests being separated through 95% of the film its hard to see the true interaction between Hauer and Pfeiffer, but with Broderick filling in for each character in the day and night scenes you are able to believe the happy ending that eventually comes.
The story itself is very strong and with the high emotions that are running through the characters from the very beginning you are pulled into the tale and are at times left breathless wondering what's going to happen next. The emotions that arise throughout the story range from love to revenge to redemption, and just about everything else in between, we're given characters to cheer for and others to hate, and by the end we're overjoyed to see everything come to a blissful conclusion.