When I saw that a new version of Lathe of Heaven was coming out, I was very excited. Lathe of Heaven is one of my favorite books, and I had seen the 1980 version... but I thought that it would be possible to do a newer version that wouldn't look so dated and low budget. (though I did enjoy the 1980 version).<br /><br /> So I begin watching it and am immediately struck by substantial differences between the novel and this movie version. That's okay with me-- I am not one of those novel Nazis who say that you can't change a thing when translating a work from one medium to another.<br /><br /> They introduce a character, who is a friend of George's. He seems to serve as something of a springboard, so that we can see what George is thinking. No problem so far.<br /><br /> Unfortunately, it quickly becomes clear that the screenwriter did not understand the novel at all. Haber's intentions are good-- the world is horrible and he wants to use George to change it for the better. And, yes, he does change it a bit to improve his position in life.<br /><br /> The screenplay doesn't seem to correctly emphasize that Haber is purposefully having George dream certain dreams to change reality for the better. And that the changing of reality is not to be taken lightly-- there are unintended consequences, because everything is connected.<br /><br />So, basically, don't see it. Ever. I give it a rating of 2 only to congratulate the filmmakers for making a good choice of a novel to do-- just that they did it so poorly.<br /><br />