A visually creepy let down.

Rating: 6/10 (21 November 2000)

After having just read "The Shining" I was jived to see this flick, even though Stephen King didn't like it.
And I can see why he didn't like it.
First: the good. This movie has the right look and feel to it. The hotel that serves as the setting fits wonderfully, and several of the creepy scenes work to full effect. (Interestingly enough, the most chilling scene in the entire movie- the famous 'All Work and No Play...' one- wasn't even in the book!) So, in that limited way, the movie works.
Now the bad: Where are these characters? Where is there ANY development?? You have Hallorann: By the end of the movie you have to wonder why the even chose to put him in it at all. Danny: doesn't do anything in the entire movie but mumble a bit. Wendy: All she does is cry and sob. Very annoying. Not that it was her fault. That's all she was given to do. Jack: This guy is supposed to DESCEND into the madness of the hotel. He is supposed to be flawed at the beginning of the story, but still be a *good* human being. In this movie, he's very harsh with his family from the start, and we never see him really interact with them before he starts to go off the deep end, so to speak. (Not that there was a chance. Seemingly, the second he steps in the hotel he's halfway to the end of the movie)
The line reading was just that. READING. So much of the movie seems forced... contrived... And though there are nice efforts to alter parts of the novel to facilitate the different medium (such as the doctor scene at the beginning of the movie, which culls elements and plot points from the whole book in mere minutes) there are too many complete changes that don't make much sense. (why the hedge maze? Why end it like *that*?? I think I know why Kubrick didn't use the same ending/main plot point from the book, but still... could have done better) Not to mention huge themes and elements from the novel that you would think should have been present.
I likely need to watch this movie again in awhile after the book isn't so fresh in my mind, and perhaps I can look at it more as a separate movie and not a movie based on the book. As it is, I found it it to be very un-affecting for the most part, except for about half on hour towards the end.
For now, I give it 5.5 out of 10, based on artistic merit, that half hour, and the best scene that seems like it should have been in the book even though it wasn't. (1= awful, 5= average, 10= perfection)