After all the hype and controversies the film finally released yesterday in Trivandrum and I was there to see it first day first show. And… hmm, the book was better! To make it clear, I wasn’t a huge fan of the book either. Thought it was a fairly good novel, but not as good as it was made out to be. Just too much hype! So all in all, it was a bit disappointing.

There are some flashes of brilliance in the movie. The scene in which Sophie’s parent’s gets killed is one of the best I have ever seen. Kudos to Ron Howard for that shot! Technically the movie was sound and the location choices were excellent. But there aren’t too many more good things I can point out about the movie though. I would have expected much more from the team that made Apollo 13 and the likes. Well, Tom Hanks didn’t have much acting to do, just delivering long dialogues as if he was reading passages from the novel. Audrey Tautau was disappointing too. She was amazing in Amelie, but in this her acting seemed a bit artificial. Paul Bettany is an exception here. His role as Silas the albino is commendable.

The part I least liked about the novel was the over-dramatic ending. This was made even more over-dramatic and dragged out in the movie. Even the theatre audience, who have seen many a masala climax, seemed to agree with hoots, sighs and loud wise-cracks.

I wouldn’t recommend this movie unless you are die-hard fan of the book and want to see how everything translates on screen or if you can’t resist the temptations, and is too curious to find out what all the hype is about.

So my review: An ordinary movie, nothing amazing. 6 on 10 :)