It was the ULTIMATE adaptation of a book!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2006)

WONDERFUL!!! INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!! I saw it 3 times so far and each time it has affected me more. Read the book twice. The casting was perfect and the script was amazing! The shortcuts they took were excellent; in fact, my nephew, who never read the book, got the movie immediately. Tom Hanks had the right combination of gravity, wit and understatement -his reading of the pivotal lines brought tears to my eyes and the final shot - oh my, how beautiful! What difficult lines they were and how easy to make them maudlin! And Audrey Tautou - she WAS Sophie and such a joy to watch. I'm going to have to start viewing her other movies. The critics are crazy - boring; rushed? I don't think so. Ron Howard and his production staff should be given many Oscars for the way they put this together (one can only IMAGINE how much film was shot and edited to pull this off and how brave they were to tackle it!) but I'm sure that will never happen, as the critics rule everything and fact that the basic premise and subject matter make everyone ballistic will unfortunately override what a terrific movie this is and how much praise it deserves. And hurray to Hans Zimmer for ANOTHER perfect score!And getting back to that subject matter - anything that sparks this much discussion on all sides can only be a GOOD thing! GO SEE IT and then TALK about IT!!!!!