Da Vinci Book and Film: Which is Worse?

Some reviewers of The Da Vinci Code film, including The Associated Press and Jim Davila, claim that it went out of his way to soften some of the book's factual errors. Greg Wright of Hollywood Jesus takes the opposite view:

"[Reportedly] Ron Howard's movie 'subtly softens' the material of Dan Brown's book. The Associated Press couldn't have it more wrong...

"Yes, Tom Hanks' Robert Langdon does find some new dialogue in his mouth courtesy of screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, words that at least play devil's advocate with Ian McKellen's Leigh Teabing. But in the end, the cinematic Langdon becomes much more of a true believer than does his literary counterpart...

"[The] film portrays Opus Dei and the 'shadow council' of the Vatican as really being in cahoots, really conspiring to kill people in the name of God, really trying to supress intellectual inquiry, really turning its back on truth and righteousness. In short, Ron Howard turns the Catholic Church into a genuine villain...

"Most importantly, the film invests significant energy in validating the Magdalene myth. While in Brown's book Marie Chauvel basically leaves the existence of the Sangreal documents and Magdalene's bones to the world's imagination, Howard has Langdon and Neveu discover plenty of material evidence to back up the claim...

"Where's the mystery that feeds the soul? Where's the adventure? You'll have to find it in the book, I'm afraid. There's no codebreaking here, just polemic."

That's being rather generous to the book, but whatever. Da Vinci is a wreck no matter how you look at it.