The DaVinci Code: the film

This movie did not live up to its expectations. The audacity and controversy of the book were dampened which made this film weak.
I was relieved to think that people would not be as confused or shaken by the story but I was also disappointed that people might not be challenged anymore either.
If I had not read the book first, I would have enjoyed the film more because I would have been surprized a lot more and I would not be pointing out all the incongruencies.

Let me get right to the point of this post. In the book, Sir Teabing points out that there is not just one chalice painted in The Last Supper but in fact thirteen, meaning that there could not be only ONE Holy Grail. In the film, he points out that there are NO cups on the table. One slip-up like that would make me (as a believer or not) question Dan Brown's credibility, in terms of how he disseminates facts. [We are a generation that does not care much for learning history. We will take it if it is served to us on a half-hour platter with special effects but beyond that, we are not willing to do our own research* and so we easily take a seemingly knowledgeable, confident person, rife with minute details, at their word.]
Most shocking of all was the change in Langdon's demeanor when he and Teabing were telling Sophie about the "true" history of Christianity. In the book, they share in the recounting, backing each other up, filling in each other's blanks, etc. In the film, Teabing leads the presentation (much less a conversation) and Langdon either disagrees with him, scoffs at him, casts doubt on his assertions or begrudgingly admits that what he's saying is not impossible. It seems that Langdon's character has been changed basically to protect the film's butt. With the main character sitting on the fence (the closest thing to direct opposition we will get) the general feeling is that of uncertainty. We are not being told what is true and what is not but we are told to decide for ourselves. I think this is fair but a slight cop-out on [diretor] Ron Howard's part.