Loved it! Never read books.

Rating: 9/10 (7 January 2006)

I never read these books and neither had my 7-year old daughter. But, she has the complete set of books now! She even got one of the "How the movie was made" books. Note - she reads at a 6th grade level even though she is technically only 1st grade age.
We thoroughly enjoyed the entire film and story. We took it just for what it was and did no comparisons to anything else - previous movies, other stories, the books. The acting and special effects were completely wonderful. We had no complaints for any of the graphics. It was all very believable.
We did think it was a tiny bit slow in a couple of points and overall, a tiny bit long, but since it isn't really a story or movie for very young audiences (5 and younger), this was okay.