I rewqtched the first adaptation from 1987 last night, for the first time in years, yes, talk about rushed and silly. No character build-up. no time to see into the mother's true motives, they hardly read or play or do anything in the attic in the film, and the ending is nuts. Am going to watch the other version, 2014 for a comparison, I am a huge fan of Ellen Burstyn, who plays the grandmother. Imagine writing these books now...the premise of the attic would be different, and their hobbies different. A very strange tale, indeed. It was a strangely dark film, and not without its endearments, such as being lushly filmed, having a great score and the cast doing their very best with the material at hand.