>>130151140As a kid, I barely noticed the opening number at all. But as an adult, I think Derek’s line at the end “I love you. I always have.” holds a lot more weight because of that song’s inclusion. The guy acts tsundere towards this chick for like fifteen years, then when he thinks she’s dead he finally admits that he probably loved her since sometime during the very first summer they spent together. And that admission turns out to be the magical “declaration of everlasting love” that breaks the curse. Him saying “I will always love you in the future” didn’t work, but “I always did love you before now” did.
However I think it takes too much overthinking to even notice that touch, and the movie is otherwise so simple I’m not even sure if that’s what they were going for.
