I saw this movie with my son, and we both liked it very much. It was full of action, surprise, and had a good story line. I would caution very young viewers...there are some parts that may be scary for the very young ones.
We have not read any of the books, and so we were able to take the movie at face value and enjoy it. But, the movie has inspired us to want to read the book.
This is a great family movie that I'd recommend to anyone. It's really nice to have an entertaining movie to take the kids to and know there will not be any parts that are inappropriate. THANK YOU MOVIE MAKERS!