I went to see this without any prior knowledge. I tend to like big-budgeted fantasy movies, but couldn't quite get into this one. If your a fan of the book and liked the movie, that's great. But the critics have this one right - it's just not enjoyable by the casual moviegoer. The acting, dialog and general believability of the film are not up to par.<br /><br />The 'idea' is kind of cool: A man discovers that when he reads text in books, the things he reads about become reality. Years later, he is captured by a book villain that he accidentally brought to life years ago ... and the story progresses from there.<br /><br />A lot of this movie was awkward; in the beginning I was surprised to hear the daughter speaking with an English accent, unlike her parents ... guess they lived in the UK (don't know). Her unkempt eyebrows were also a bit awkward to look at (hey, my friend noticed this too).<br /><br />The acting was pretty rough - but I don't blame the actors. The material they were given was clearly ludicrous. It's hilarious how the father tells everyone of his special ability and everyone just believes this amazing claim ... add to that the further wild story he gives about what happened to his wife... and no one questions that. How do you act with that kind of a script? Did they even read the script before accepting this acting gig? <br /><br />I went to see this movie on a Saturday night - the lines at the theater were immense and other movies were sold out. Yet, this movie was barely filled - take that as a clue. It's not worth you or your kid's time.