Book to Movie : A 'Da Vinci' Tale

I have read the book once before and I have seen the movie too. But I was just too eager to read that book again. I don't know why, but there hasn't been a book like that (with the mysteries and conspiracy theories) and I had forgotten much of the story. So I went to the library and picked up a copy, and read through the whole thing and I have to admit I found the story much clearer as I knew what happens next.
So it was a Sunday when I finished this book and I have this Blockbuster membership with the online rentals and I had a movie to return which I could exchange for a new free one and I didn't have a movie in mind.


Anyways, I thought it would be cool to see the 'Da Vinci' movie again right after I read the book. And so I rented it. Now everyone knows that most movies made from books do not turn out to be exact copies of the book. Many plots and storylines are changed. I don't know why. Maybe it's because the new plots make the movie more interesting. I don't know. I never thought so.
Anyways, I thought that this movie can't really be that different from the book. I mean to build a new plot seemed tough.
But I saw some glaring differences. First and foremost, Robert Langdon in the movie may not be 'for' the 'real' story of the Holy Grail, but he never disagrees with Teabing during his accounts. He infact adds to the story. But in the movie he is shown to be skeptical about the whole 'truth' and argues with Teabing. Now why would that happen? Why do you want to change the character's personality?
And secondly, the major difference is the presence of only one cryptex rather than two as in the book. I believe they did so because they wanted to shorten the movie. But I think they have made it longer by some of the inbetween sequences. And I would have like a 'Series' like the 'Band Of Brothers' instead of a shortened movie. That would have made a better thing to see, spanned over a few weeks, showing every bit of detail as in the book. But they made a movie, with one of the worst editing I have ever seen. They run through the Louvre part of the book like they wanted to get out of it as fast as they could. And then they spend time in the Park, etc.
And that's not all. Another big difference is in the relationship between Saunière and Neveu. I do not recall the book saying that they weren't really grandfather-granddaughter. But the movie says so, and I don't know why. Langdon and Neveu go below the Roslin Chapel which never happens. Also, Fache is shown as an Opus Dei member and Aringarosa has a slight negative edge which is not present in the book. Silas doesn't actually die in the book.
All this makes me believe that books turned into movies is not a really good thing. Look at the Bourne series. Even the first movie is not similar to the book, let alone the next two movies which are actually different from the books titles the same.
The Da Vinci Code movie was meant for only those who had read the book as the rest didn't understand what was happening. And those who read the book found the movie so odd, that it would have been a better idea if they had not made one at all. It would have saved all the controversy it created during it's release.