Pretty much every review of the new film "The Terminal" focuses on what else Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have done. That's a lot to live up to. But this is the story is of a man unable to leave an airport terminal due to a crisis in his generic East European nation. Then comedy and other emotions ensue when Hanks's character gets to play matchmaker, gets a job, annoys the Homeland Security bureaucrat, and even gets to spend some time with the lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Many of the reviews spent more time talking about some their previous works such as "Cast Away" and "Catch Me If You Can" than they do about the new movie. It is a movie The New York Press' Matt Zoller Seitz described simply as "Capra doing Kafka."

But that notion probably complicates the movie a little too much. It's much more American-centric and simple than that. Certainly more Capra than Kafka highlighted with a certain amount of old school Chaplin-esque influence. As Lawrence Toppman of The Charlotte Observer notes, "The film is a wholehearted valentine to the dream of equality America represents. The terminal - not a real one, but a miraculously detailed set designed by Alex McDowell - is a microcosm of the nation, with whites and blacks and Latinos and Indians working together, sharing cultures and wooing each other."

While The Terminal could have been better in many different ways, the one thing that really is worth the price of admission is the Terminal itself. It is a massive, beautiful, testament to detail and gives a shameless, yet charming, plug for many global brands. The terminal becomes another character and Spielberg has a lot of fun moving his cameras through it. Mostly because it's the kind of new, slick looking, airport you wouldn't mind spending a layover in. Not for months, but if you have a few hours, there are plenty of worse places to be. And, in an era of mind-blowing computer generated special effects, the art of an entire sound stage and wonderfully constructed set piece is a welcome throwback, sort of like watching a turn-back-the-clock night in baseball.