I've just watched this film and I have to say it was downright bizarre. Not the plot - I like fantasy stories and will try to get hold of a copy of Susan Cooper's book now I've read such great things about it on here. No, it was something else that ruined the film for me; the sense of it being totally disembodied. And it wasn't just about the director having parachuted an American family in to please US audiences.<br /><br />At one point I turned to one of my companions and said "that's the most un-English of English villages I've ever seen." Given that I live in an English village, I kind of know what it should have looked like.<br /><br />Watching the credits, it all became clear: the film was made in Romanian. Note to film making people: Romania looks nothing like England. Not one bit. One of my friends almost guessed it during an ariel shot of the 'village' when she said "it looks a bit German doesn't it?" It seems picky but it's one example of how the character of the novel was sucked out of the film. I'd sat and watched the DVD of 28 Days Later the previous night: now that's a film not afraid to be British that still went down a storm in the States. It can be done.