The Da Vinci Code

I'll come right out and say I'm not that big a fan of Dan Brown's book. The writing is fairly pedestrian and it all struck me as a light-reading version of Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. But, when translated to celluloid, The Da Vinci Code works better as a movie than it does as a book. The scenes that seemed too facile in the book, such as the argument between Langdon and Teabing (played by Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen, respectively) about Teabing's Holy Grail theories, are given more life and credibility by well-directed and skillful actors.
Brown's book, in many ways, reads like a novelization of a movie more than a full-blown novel so it's not surprising that the story works a bit better as a movie than it does as a book. The pacing and action are pretty good, though I think the story rushes to a bit of a conclusion and could stand a little slowing down to give it gravity.
Letter grade: B