"Slumdog Millionaire" is the best of the movie of the year. It was tough to come to this conclusion because I had just seen "Dark Knight" for the third time this year (absolutely breathtaking in Blu-Ray). But it was an easy choice if I put aside my love for the Batman universe and focus on the pure joy of what movies are supposed to do. They are supposed to make you laugh, cry, enthrall, surprise, and entertain throughout. "Dark Knight" is so grand in its scheme that it needed an IMAX theater to fully capture its essence. But "Slumdog Millionaire" enraptures you in a more fundamental process that is much more human and relative to you and me. Of course, the story is much more relative given the recent attacks in Mumbai (the film's central setting), but the themes and relationships between the characters are endearing and universal. It has the gritty camera and splashy editing of "Dark Knight." However, it has the raw human emotions that a comic book hero can never truly explain.
