The books were dense and had so many layers.
The movie was horrible.
I liked the original movie Dune. Yes, it left things out - it had to, to be even 3 hours. It certainly could have been done better in retrospect. But on its own merits, it was enjoyable, albeit at times slightly campy. Like most Lynch films.
The novel really isn't something that can be tackled as a single movie. But I have to admit, I saw the movie on multiple Saturday afternoons on cable, and enjoyed it, even if it wasn't an all time classic (unlike the book). It did suffer from having Sean Young in a key part, during that brief period where she was a leading lady thanks to Blade Runner.
Keep in mind that dense, many layered books tend not to make great movies - unless the filmmaker dared to radically rewrite them.
