As you know, joyrock, initial reception is an absolutely horrific way to judge the aesthetic quality of a film; by that standard, Citizen Kane is garbage. It's also disingenuous to take the criticisms of the author of the source material all that seriously, especially when things were changed.
Out of all the claims you listed, only one was specific: that removal of supernatural elements (which were there, arguably; just implied) made things less believable. The rest- bad acting, poor pacing- are unspecific and consequently unverifiable.
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Tebow to Jests?
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