My son had just finished reading this book in his third grade class, and was eager to see the movie. We enjoyed the stop-action animation, however thought that the voices of the characters could have been more exciting.
There were several references to the book for children who have read it to compare this movie to. Those viewers who were offended by the content of the movie probably should have read some of the book before taking your kids to the movie.
I would recommend this movie to others, but would suggest they wait for it to come to dvd.