After getting the DVD about six months ago I finally found the three spare hours I needed to watch the extended version of this movie, it's been on my watching list for ages, but I just hadn't found the chance to watch it. I had thought the book was ok, and the movie is okay too, albeit a bit boring and like the book, it feels a bit lacking as a standalone, the whole trilogy really feels like one big story that should be unabridged. Admitedly there are a LOT of good scenes, and Legalus still remains as my favourite character, but the three hours was a bit hard to stomach in one shot. I do think it might have been a bit long, yes, I agree if it was cut shorter I would have complained about it cutting out the good bits and not being faithful to the book. Although only ten years old (gee, was it really that long?), I see how CGI has progressed so much in these years, coz the computer graphics in this movie just seems to fake and outdated compared to even movies five years after, but it was still good nevertheless. I would only recommend this movie if you are a fan of the book as I don't really see the appeal of the movie otherwise (it was kinda hard to follow if you didn't already know what was going to happen).