The characters were lovable, especially Guido. Roberto Benigni does an amazing job with this role, and rightly earned an Oscar. The romance with Dora was well-developed and entertaining, with the necessary touch of suspense and conflict (her engagement to another man principally). By the time she makes the choice to love Guido, the audience has long fallen for him.
The small hints of racial persecution were almost a side note, and didn't appear to affect Guido in the least. That gave his character a bit of a one-dimensional factor. His carefree humor was fun to watch, but in the end gave him a lack of depth.
Before I watched the movie I read a very short synopsis about it and was expecting something about a small boy and the holocaust. I actually had the thought that maybe I had read it wrong, or I had read something about a completely different movie. Then the second half began, and that's when the movie started to get to the point.
The character development of the first half really paid off in the second half, when we understood the relationship between Guido and his son almost immediately because of what we already knew about Guido.
The "game" in the camp was an interesting irony, but this is where the movie went off track for me. Life in the death camps under Nazi reign was too horrific to lighten up, and attempts to treat the soldiers as unaware and ineffective were all too unreal. The reality of the efficiency of the German army at killing human beings is too much a part of my consciousness. The suspense of disbelief was hard to achieve with all we know about the holocaust.
There were a few times the humor was over the top for me, and situations too unbelievable. The scene in the school where Guido impersonated the school official became slapstick and went a little too long and too far. When Guido "translated" the camp rules it was clever and funny, but the sense that it was far out of the realm of what could really have happened overwhelmed the scene.
One of the downsides of the movie was Nicoletta Braschi. Her character was flat and her acting fell short of expressing emotional depth and suffering.
The movie seemed to be making a point that I really agree with -- to find the best in life, and make the most of whatever situation you may be in. It seemed to say that you can find beauty, love, and even humor in life's darkness. But for me it went a little too far, and it must be acknowledged that there are some situations that defy "lightening up".
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