Then I watched INKHEART. There's enough originality about the premise to make you furious that the movie isn't better than it is. Could have been a rousing adventure, but it never gets very rousing. The big action moments are always a letdown.
I just happened to notice that ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY gave it a pretty good score in their weekly roundup of DVDs. I think they were overly generous.
But it has a wonderful cast: Helen Mirren plays the grandmother, and Jim Broadbent is the book author. Paul Bettany actually ends up being more of a central figure and object of interest than star Brendan Fraser.