Being a fan of John Malkovich, I expected his performance to be no less than excellent. But unfortunately, his performance is really disappointing. On the other hand, Jeremy Irons, another great actor, did a great role. I have not read the book, but I've been told that a lot of the main plot is not in the movie. Did the movie makers try to keep the movie short to go against other popular fantasy movies (The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc)? There were scenes that did not make any sense and did not provide useful information. This is a movie that one would watch on a Sunday evening when there is nothing else to do.