I lost the perception that I was sitting in a chair in a theater, riveted to the screen. 10 out of 10. A rarity...in which state of the art special effects are actually complemented with solid effortless acting. No wonder...the cream of unmatched British thespians are in control of this franchise, which in any other case would have simply been a sterile FX romp. What a once in a lifetime opportunity for the film industry to pull of a success like this. It doesn't matter if the screenplay leaves out significant parts of the original book. The film stands firmly on its own merit. And what a feather in Warner's cap to have this one in its vaults. What creativity and film magic. It makes me want to drop everything and go to film school. There has been nothing remotely like this film. A masterpiece right out of the blue...like magic.