Words are inadequate

Well, if you make the horrible mistake of reading through IMDb.com's forums on the matter, and don't go on a mad bitch-slapping campaign, the general opinion is that the movies are good, are adaptations and not direct translations, stand well enough as their own series, but don't stand as well without their predecessors. However, as long as you aren't an idiot--unlike most of the forum folks--you can figure out what's going on pretty easily.

Note, though, that I read books 1-4 in a week a couple summers ago, followed by 5 some time later, so I have a pretty good clue what's going on anyway, even if I've forgotten half the details and major plot points.