If you have a spare Saturday night and are looking for some entertainment, Chocolat is the perfect "feel-good" movie. From the fast-paced action films, corny teenage plots or simplistic love stories that swarm the box office today, this movie has a unique plot that cannot be pinned down to a single genre.

Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, the Lasse Hallström film released in 2000 not only has an all-star cast, but a captivating plot and script.

The film takes place in a small old-fashioned French town. The town's conservative lifestyle is in for a pleasant surprise when a strange North wind brings a traveling woman and her daughter.

Vianne (Juliette Binoche) is an eccentric, beautiful woman whose vivid clothes, carefree personality and love for life contrast deeply with the strait-laced persona of the townspeople. She opens a Chocolaterie, and her sweet confections seem to have a magical effect. Slowly, through her enchanting sweets, Vianne begins to cover the town with blossoming relationships and freer attitudes.

Unfamiliar with strange and unconventional additions to their simple lives, rumors begin to bubble and become more complicated with the arrival of Roux (Johnny Depp) and his band of "river rats." The mayor of the town, Comte De Reynaud (Alfred Molina), becomes worried and feels threatened. He sets out to indirectly shut down Vianne's shop and run her out of the town along with Roux and his people.

Vianne is not without friends, however. She befriends Josephine (Lena Olin), a tattered woman with an abusive husband, and Armande (Judi Dench), Vianne's landlord and an independent older woman. The three form a band of outsiders who defy the rules of the town and work to open up the community.

What makes the movie at least partially captivating is the perfectly cast actors. Binoche is charming as an angelic woman with a hint of mystery and enthralling charisma. Depp, with his suave, rustic appearance, contributes to the romantic portion of the movie and Dench adds witty comedy to her lines.

Aside from simply the cast, the movie is so likable because of its ability to inspire. The prevalent theme is to live life for the better of oneself and measure it by one's own accomplishments rather than in comparison to others. The movie leaves viewers with a sense of revival and enjoyment of life so sweet if could melt in your mouth like chocolate.