Good Movie, great book

Rating: 6/10 (3 October 2006)

I finished the book last night, I know its taken me forever to read the book but I was reading it while on a tour of Europe and got to the Louvre before finishing it and also saw the Mona Lisa because it was part of the book.
I must say that after just watching the movie, I was a bit disappointed that there are major chunks left out.
For example, Sophies role was significantly smaller in the movie. She is an integral part of the book and should have had a bigger part in the movie, Audrey Tautou was perfect for this role which justifies my point.
The fact that Dan Brown was an Executive Producer is not evident after watching the movie, I understand that certain things must be changed when adapting a book for the big screen but the fact that the end was different to the book causes it to lose what could have been a very touching ending. I feel that as a producer of the movie, and because he wrote the book, he should have made sure that as much from the book was kept in the movie.
Then there is the glaring lack of the double security with the keystone, it was meant to have 2 cryptexs (spelling) and not just the one. Sophie did not recognise the writing on the back of the rose from the box.
So for me, there were too many thing missing.
Part of what made the book so great was the fact that it was more of a treasure hunt, with all the riddles and the thinking behind it, the detail that Dan Brown goes into about each and every single different facet of the various groups is lost.
I guess that things had to be changed for the movie, if you have not read the book, the first hour is a mystery. I watched the movie with a friend and I just said that in time things will (hopefully) fall into place. In some ways they did, in some ways they didn't.
Good movie, outstanding book. Dan Brown is an outstanding writer. I suggest you read Angels and Daemons too