This movie is not a pale IMITATION of the book series. I refuse to believe they even tried. This film ushered in backlash, they welcomed it. Whose idea was it to believe that people who would watch the film won't be disappointed to see themes, casting, plot elements, minor details that aren't faithful to the pages? We know the answer ofc. I hope this abandoned movie series becomes a lesson to all those directors out there. If you're planning to adapt a book, always believe that people read it. Even if statistics tell you that less than 15% of kids read annually. Don't believe even for a second that people will just shrug off bad writing.