I give the movie 4 stars out of 10. I would like to have seen this movie in German with English subtitles in stead of the at times barely discernible spoken English. I do think the movie is a decent attempt at capturing the feel of Hesse's very complex work. The Monty Python-esque animation does add a layer of surrealism, which is important to the rendering of Hesse's ideas. The soundtrack is, in my opinion, annoying and detracts from the experience in stead of adding to it. It was an interesting take on the book and it is worth viewing, but I must say I would recommend that people read the book and form their own imagery. For anyone interested in existentialism and/or students of German literature, this is a worthwhile film to watch.