So I just finished watching 'Empire of the Sun' (starring a very young Christian Bale) and, am I missing something, or is it really that... mediocre?

For a movie with such a high IMDb rating, starring Christian Bale and directed by Steven Spielberg, I kinda expected to be blown away. Instead I was bored and pretty disappointed.

It was well directed, and the sets and effects were all great, but the story just seemed kinda pointless and meandering. Plus Bale's character was incredibly annoying (particularly near the beginning) and not very believable IMHO.

I had to force myself to finish watching it, and really can't recommend it to anyone.