was anyone else...

Totally agree! The point of the book was to explore the character of Cassandra and her family and the film concentrated on th romances instead. Agree about Simon too and it was a shame cuz the rest of the cast were just as i would have imagined them to be!

Elena

i was quite disappointed but i think it's one of the best movie adaptions i've seen! the book of course is so much better and i agree that the characters weren't looked at enough. but i thought the thing that was missing most was the actual castle. one of my favourite things about the book is that the castle is described so vividly and it's quite an integral part and has a character of its own. but in the film it was just a quirky building.

[deleted]

I very much agree. I think this might have made a better miniseries than a film, not so much because of length (the book isn't *that* long), but because I feel a good British miniseries would have the courage to focus more on the family and Cassandra's journal entries, and a little less on the romantic angle to things (although, granted, romance makes up a good portion of the book too). It wasn't as though the events of the story were changed much -- in fact, they weren't, for the most part. But while the book made me laugh and cry, the movie pretty much left me cold. I felt somewhat disconnected with the characters, rather than intensely relating to them. I was even a trifle bored in places.

But shouldn't Simon at times have a diabolical face, like the gargoyle? :P Seriously, I wasn't a huge fan of the casting for either Cotton brother. Though Neil looked the part, he was especially annoying. A pity, because I liked most of the other actors.

I picked up this book over the summer at a rummage sale. Not the type of book I usually read but I enjoyed it. It wasn't a book that I would want to read over and over and it took me some patience to get through it. I agree with you. The movie lacked Cassandra's point of view. The novel is written in journal form.

I was very disappointed in the casting. I had my own vision of what the characters looked like. None of them hit the mark, except maybe the father.

That actor that played Stephen, whew! If I was Cassandra I would have ran away with him hands down!

I thought the acting was somewhat dull and unconvincing in this movie--especially by all the "American" characters and Stephen. I guess by everyone, actually.