I grew up watching the movie and the second movie of this book. The first movie was good, the second movie was ok, and well... the "third" movie... yeah, let's not even go there, because it has absolutely nothing to do with the book... Let's just pretend that movie doesn't exist. Anyways, I am happy to say that truly, this book is one of my favorite reads from my young adulthood. It is better than the first movie, and it goes far beyond the plot of the second movie. I feel this book has some valuable lessons, and is so imaginative that, even though I have not read it in quite a while, the fantastic realm of this book haunts me. I will definitely read it to my kids someday.