Exactly. And see, since I haven't read the novella, I don't have that bias and/or expecatation to go off of. So what I'm comparing it to is...other films. So we're not even starting from the same reference point.

That being said, I'm pretty sure I would have gone 'WTF?!' myself if I had read the story first. Kinda like I did when Dudditts (I can never spell that right) turned into an alien in the movie version of Dreamcatcher. That was a serious 'OMGWTFBBQ??!' moment for me right there (although I loved the rest of the film.).