Not half as bad as people are making out.

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2006)

I saw this last night and would give it a solid 7/10. I think the problem the makers had was trying to get the very convoluted story across with reams of dialogue. The nature of the story demands this but it takes a while and doesn't have the 'page-turner' effect of the book as these revelations, which happen often, are not visually appealing but portray images when you read them. I think they did as well as could be expected getting a complicated story to the screen intact. Silas the monk is menacing, Jean Reno as Bezu Fache could have been made more of but as is the nature of the story, it doesn't lend itself well to character development, the main focus of the film is on the revelations, which are just spoken words. Ian McKellen is excellent as Sir Leigh Teabing, the eccentric English symbologist who turns a bit nasty and Audrey Tatou as Sophie Neveu is exactly how you would have imagined her to look whilst reading the book. As for Tom Hanks, well he's Tom Hanks, you know what to expect but he didn't really make you root for him as you tend to in the book and he is probably one of the few characters who has the chance to. Watch it, even if you have read the book, it isn't that bad!