What a pleasant but sorrowful journey.

"Amelia" is the fictionalized (to a degree) story of Amelia Earhart, the famous aviatrix whose 1937 disappearance remains a mystery to this day. Hilary Swank, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the real-life "Lady Lindbergh," does a marvelous job in the title role

This isn't an action film, and it isn't an expose of characters leading sordid lives. It justifiably carries the PG rating, which means that folks who say, "They don't make movies like they used to" might be happily surprised at its lack of foul language or, for that matter, anything coarse. Plus, director Mira Nair ("Vanity Fair") has knack for showing us the details of an era - the brim of a hat, a calendar on a wall - to remind us of a time gone by.

Earhart was married to publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere), although it wasn't exactly a traditional marriage. She also had feelings for TWA founder Gene Vidal (the father of author Gore Vidal), who is portrayed by Ewan McGregor.

Swank's coltish good looks create the illusion that you're seeing Earhart herself on the big screen, the perfect portrayal of the first person after Charles Lindbergh to successfully fly solo across the Atlantic.

It's fun to watch her become absorbed in the marketing effort with her own line of luggage and clothing as she tries to avoid a system that labels women and longs to mold its celebrities. Little girls and grown women alike looked up to her, and still do. Did she sell out? No, she didn't. She did everything she could to finance her flights.

If you love the look of older planes soaring through the heavens, that alone will be worth the price of admission. And if you want to watch a nifty romance develop, look no further than the one portrayed by Gere and Swank.

I'm not sure why the screenplay toys so much with some of the details, but it does. Still, the movie is a subdued piece of entertainment that isn't in your face. Nor does it strive for lowest-common-denominator sleaze as the story rolls long. The laughter it draws is gentle, never mean-spirited or mocking.

It holds Earhart up as a woman of high ideals who refused to compromise despite the hoops she knew she had to jump through. It's a courageous movie because it has class, just like its subject.