I actually thought this was the best episode by far (and much better than part 2). Even though this is only the 4th story, the format was becoming repetitive and this was a nice change. The guy playing Phil was funny, as were Darby and Johnson.
I suppose it wouldn't have hurt to keep Olaf out of the picture until…

I'm not sure it has to be particularly gritty. The novel has a fairly hopeful tone overall. But, unlike virtually all children's movies, it asks big questions and is quite nuanced. It is never really clear that the main antagonist (Jenner) is a bad guy - indeed many might come to the view that Jenner had it right…

I really hope they do a good job with this. I adored the book as a kid, and I enjoyed it again when reading it to my daughter a couple of years back (she liked it too). There isn't a lot of action in the book, however - it is actually much more thoughtful and philosophical. I'm not sure I trust a major studio to…

There are several sequels to the original book, though they were written by O'Brien's daughter (O'Brien having died shortly after the original book was published). They are actually quite good. Not sure they'd make great movies, however