No Umph

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2006)

It is unfair to expect the movie to come close to the book. In fact if you haven't read the book, you will enjoy the movie more. The flashbacks are done well and the casting is good, however I felt Tom Hanks should have been a bit more excitable rather than so straight. There is simply no sense of urgency in the movie which the book had. The music did little to help the movie along. Sir Ian McKellen steals the show and gives the whole movie a more intellectual flavour. I was hoping for Sophie Marceau to play Sophie, there would have been a bit more life there. I avoided reading the Harry Potter books and so enjoyed the movies without asking the question "Why did they leave this or that out?"