Deesh!!! (7 out of 10 ) The book is totally awsome but this movie by David Lynch sucked horribly. If you want to see a real Dune movie, watch the Dune mini-series that was on Sci-Fi channel. There are two DVDs available that cover the first, second and third books of the Dune Saga. The First one is Frank Herbert's Dune and the second is Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (it covers both Book 2 and 3).
Dosu Kinuta (10 out of 10 ) This movie was awesome! All of the books are sweet too.
Queenie (9 out of 10 ) The books are GREAT, the movie's alright, but the books are the real deal.
Stephen (10 out of 10 ) He who controls the Spice, controls the universe.
guodskrap (9 out of 10 ) I've read the novel more than once and loved it. I also saw this movie at the theatre and the extended version on TV. The novel and the movie are different, but both are excellent. The sci-fi mini-series missed everything that was good about the book. It's sub-par, TV trash. For the best turn, watch the extended Alan Smithee version.
chuckles (7 out of 10 ) I think putting the internal monologue from the book in the film adaptation was a bad idea. Especially with the voice-overs whispering. It was just really really odd. Internal monologue is just not something I think you can port from a book to a film without it being weird. It reminded me of that part in "Airplane!": "Jim never has a second cup at home". It's honestly parody-worthy. Furthermore, I thought this film was too short, and the ending change was lame. I much prefer the miniseries (despite a couple of dumb costumes) because with its length and good directing, it didn’t need the internal monologue to make sense. The miniseries is far from "TV trash". Two emmies don’t lie.
RedSox (9 out of 10 ) It's logical that you cant get any closer to Herbert's fiction as you do by reading the first novel, but if you want to see it in any animated form this movie is still and undoubtedly the best when it comes to transport the atmosphere, something the modern series totally lacks. Too bad the movie wasn't released in its intended running-time.
Buckeye (9 out of 10 ) Queenie: The books ARE great - it's about time to read them again!
Chuckles: I've seen a lot of bad performances get Emmies, Oscars, Pulitzers, MVPs, etc. The 1983 version of Dune had great character actors, and even the dated F/X worked for the most part. The mini-series was modern made-for-TV garbage -- bad costumes, really bad acting (I laughed at numerous scenes), major plot points missing, a brat-boy for the lead role, and on-and-on. The internal monologue helped make sense of things that a movie just didn't allow for dialogue to explain. The mini-series simply didn't explain things and skipped a ton of stuff. And, as always, TV replaced age-accurate actors with a whole bunch of 20-something actors.
The Sleeper (10 out of 10 ) I agree with those who said that the tv mini-series are crap! They're absolutely ridiculous! Bad acting, horrible costumes, stupid special effects. An insult to Frank Herbert. Children of Dune is much better but yet it is no match for the novels, which are so brilliant and compelling. Children of Dune saves the reputation of the Dune Saga as the previous mini-series is worse than trash. I liked the special effects and the acting is a bit better. It's Ok on the whole but to me Dune will always be the 1983 movie! David Lynch has captured the visions of Frank Herbert so well and the whole atmosphere in the film is superb. The special effects are not that great but the worms and the spacing guild are kind of cool. The story is well-portrayed, the acting is excellent, the whole onirical and prophetical elements of the novels are all there. It's a masterpiece! A cult movie in Europe! I don't give a rat's arse if it didn't do well in America. All you people watch is silly pop corn movies. Star Wars is the real trash! A carbon copy of Dune! Long Live the 1984 film adaptation.I'm longing to see the extended version and the remake by Peter Berg.
Charles U. Farley (10 out of 10 ) The 1985 movie was more to the book than scifi channel thing. I was offended greatly how shawdy that was put together. The books are good and the 1985 version was well casted. If they can splice the short version extra scenes to the long version of that film they could have something really good. It would do frank herbert's work and brian herbert (his son's books) justice.
Gregory (9 out of 10 ) I think the 1984 movie was excellent. I haven't read the book in years, perhaps I should read it again, but I recently saw the Lynch film and it will always be my idea of Dune.
KJ (10 out of 10 ) Movie and script were great. The book was even better. But all 3 are 10 in my opinion.
Wormsign Enjoyer (9 out of 10 ) I understand now why Lynch hates the final version. The metaphors about movie production and the powers that control it are much more crystal clear in this script. What made it on screen was hindered by many external forces and further complicated by the editing process trying to keep the runtime down. With that in mind, the skeleton of Lynch's ideas are still in the theatrical version of the film, but only brief glimpses. Its not David's film anymore, and he's clearly hurt by that. So dies Duke Leto as dies David Lynch's dreams. No wonder they share the same initials, DL.
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