This film was not at all what I expected. I've read the books and I love them, but I expected the movie to be rather cheesy and lovey-dovey with some fair directing similar to Harry Potter. This movie starts a category of it's own--it was downright hilarious. The entire audience was histerical with laugther for two hours; even dire-hard fans. I'm not sure if this kind of "campy" comedy was intended...but it's definitely worth watching if you need a good laugh. (Much funnier if you've read the book...but don't expect it to be true to the book, because it's simply not.)