Beautiful and intelligent rendering of George Orr and his world-changing dreams. James Caan is suitably self-serving as his conniving therapist, Dr. Haber.Note how Penny, Dr. Haber's assistant, so prim and proper at the outset, dresses more decadently as the story unfolds. This - like other events - is presented without elaboration.Never having read the book or seen the original movie, I am judging this work on its own. As such, I rate it as a masterpiece.

God, what a waste of time! I haven't read the book but knew of ULG's stature. Actually I picked this up at the local library. This being a co-production of Alliance-Atlantic and PBS, and AAC being a Canadian company is the only reason I can see why a library might have this.First off, the acting is terrible!! Both Lisa Bonet and Lukas Haas are totally lame. No wonder this thing falls flat on its face with those two as the leads. I wonder if he's related to Philip, the director? Could that have something to do with it??The only interesting bit of casting in this dog was David Straithairn as Manny, and Sheila McCarthy as Penny, Dr. Haber's secretary. (She's probably best known as Polly in I've Heard the Mermaids Singing.)The sets and costumes are not bad, but the only reason to watch this would be as a laugh-fest, i.e. "this thing is so bad it's hilarious!!"

Having just finished reading the book I was curious to see the adaptation of what I felt was one of the best sci-fi novels I have ever read. What was presented was everything that is wrong about adaptations in film. WHY do you make this film? The creativity of the story.WHY would you bastardize the original concept beyond recognition? Arrogant screenwriters who wish to simplify the material to the lowest common denominator? And this should fall at the feet of Alan Sharp. I would love for this man to answer why he was allowed to alter this story so unrecognizable as to be so utterly juvenile and generic.From the expanded insignificant characters to the alteration of the basic premise of LeGuin's novel this film is a failure on every level and wholly unwatchable if you have read the book. If not, you may try to follow the convoluted soap opera affair awhile. Either way it plays out with all the flair of an outer limits.

...since they're so flat. I know, it's a poor pun, but this is a poor movie. Perhaps only because the 1980 version was a much-anticipated and even prepared-for favorite with our little group of mainframe programmers is this such a disappointment. No, I take that back. After watching Lisa Bonet do her "deer in the headlights", stopping each scene she was in as surely as a Sandra Bullock, I think this movie can stand alone as a disappointment.James Caan does a good job at the start, but his performance fails to capture the maturation of the good doctor Haber's megalomania. Lukas Haas: oh well, take him or leave him. I don't see how his doe-eyed look (again, an ungulate reference... perhaps this is the underlying theme for my view of the movie) adds anything to the story. No real sense of despair, as Davidson expressed pretty well in the '80 version.Strathairn: actually pretty good; provides a good sense of the dichotomy of this existence and the sense of how being "squeezed" affects all the characters. Too bad Bonet and Caan didn't pay attention to this.Avoid this one, see the original version, then read the book. Which is probably good advice for any movie.