Variety watches the Watchmen

Variety has a decent review up. Basically, if you're a fan of the novel, the film won't wow you, but won't crush you either.

"Yet the movie is ultimately undone by its own reverence; there’s simply no room for these characters and stories to breathe of their own accord, and even the most fastidiously replicated scenes can feel glib and truncated. As “Watchmen” lurches toward its apocalyptic (and slightly altered) finale, something happens that didn’t happen in the novel: Wavering between seriousness and camp, and absent the cerebral tone that gave weight to some of the book’s headier ideas, the film seems to yield to the very superhero cliches it purports to subvert."

Seem like the WB corporate suits managed to tweak the film to make it more family friendly. Too bad. Maybe the Veidt's "success" will be in the sequel...