This is my only criticism of the film. Wimping out on Dahl's ending was the wrong choice as it makes so much more sense and is so much more poignant. I loved it in the novel (the novel is my favourite Roald Dahl book, incidentally).

Otherwise, Roeg et al did a great job. It's a shame that Robert Zemeckis's recent version was so much blander by comparison, considering he didn't wimp out on Dahl's ending.