This movie entertained me a lot as a kid, after reading the book you notice they stayed close to the book, Aldo some things are less talked trough or not used as much as in the book. Deu to the unexpirienced actors(the teenagers) are good, especially for a first performance,they're not stunning, but believable. The parents, grandmother, old friendly lady, the 'seem to be' bad guy and weird sister, are quite stereotypes, but further the main character(the boys, Blinker, Mats & Jonas, and the girls, Nelle and Vicky) are good, and believable, also they're not stereotypical and all they have a real character, different storyline's all surounding around Blinker, who is the hero in the story. the friendships are also believable, and the love relation between Blinker and Nelle is cute, and to my opinion there is chemistry between the actors, which is shown and used more in the sequel of the film.
the story is also good, entertaining and sometimes surprising(if you haven't read the book), i loved this movie as a kid, and i still can enjoy it watching now, in my late teens, now i can relate to them and notice that they were like teens really are(back then i always thought it was 'how-we-want-teens-to-be) but now i know, it is true to how teens are and you just can relate to them.
