I think Dune is one of those properties that is impossible to effectively translate to the screen. I’ve believed that for years.
The problem is that the book is very personal to every reader. The world that Frank Herbert creates is very vivid and detailed, but his writing is such that even with all of that, it still allows wide latitude for the reader to create what they want to see in their own minds. This alone makes developing a film problematic -- and why the previous attempts have been so very different from one another.
The span of the book also prevents a simple wrap-up in a mere 2-3 hour picture. Herbert's content deserves a broader canvas -- multiple episodes, perhaps even including Dune Messiah to round out the story (Children of Dune sucked, so leave that one out). This also has been attempted with the mini-series that was created, but that, too, suffered from my first point above.
I agree, this property might be best uniquely left alone.
Why did I feel I’d been blacking-out every few minutes?