Kodak as well as other film manufacturers have always had some kind of hierarchy when it comes film. At the bottom of the list was the everyday "family snapshot" kind of film. For Kodak its the Kodak Gold or Ultramax 400. These days the only difference between these kinds of films and the best so called "professional" films are that the latter are generally not available in drug stores or Walmart. The difference in price, especially when you consider processing in the mix is almost negligible. To be honest, there's not much difference in quality either but there is still something special about Portra. It just has a look that says you cared enough about this shot to use the very best film. Although I still like Gold and Untramax very much Portra is more and more becoming my "go to" film.
Here's a nice family snapshot of my son and his beautiful family shot on Portra 400 with my Pentax ZX-7. It probably would have been just as good on Gold or Ultramax but Portra just has "That Look!"
