I know the trailer shattered everyone who ever read the book(s). It was clear that they had done something to it (them)...and it wasn't good.<br /><br />Having seen the film I've got good news and bad news.<br /><br />The good news is that the cast (sans the woefully miscast and actually quite terrible Christopher Eccleston) is actually quite good. There is something warm and fuzzy about the bunch that some how lifts the rest of the proceedings out of the muck and mire.<br /><br />The bad news is that the film is still covered in the muck and mire. Oh please don't ask me how the film compares to the book, its just not worth it. The problem is that they have refashioned the film to be a family sort of movie. It reeks of being the sort of thing thats good for kids, not too scary, not too taxing. the result is that everything suddenly becomes clichéd. Actually the first sign that we're in heavy cliché territory is the score which could be swapped out with almost any other similar film with no loss whats so ever. Its so generic as to be white noise. The look of the film is almost as generic. the result is that what ever worked in the book is laughable here.. Okay bring in plot twist A now B now C. Only the cast (as I said) makes it at all watchable.<br /><br />Do I ever need to see it again...no. Do you need to see it? Not really, though I'm sure you'll see it when it hits cable..