TORONTO - Die-hard Da Vinci Code fans gave the new film thumbs up yesterday, ignoring the withering reviews of the critics.

"It was very Hollywood, a good thriller," Omar Roesslar, 39, said outside Rainbow Cinemas on Front St. E., after the first screening of the film.

"It exceeded my expectations," said the makeup artist, who is a fan of the book on which the movie is based and has watched documentaries about it.

The presence of director Ron Howard and actor Tom Hanks led him to have high hopes for the movie.

Even people who hadn't read the best-selling novel were happy with the big-screen version.

"It had a lot of twists. I never thought that person would be the bad guy," said Jesse Reid, 20, a fast food worker.

The theatre began advance ticket sales to the highly anticipated detective film Monday and it sold out minutes before the first showing.

That disappointed Tyler Ing, 17, a student at Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute in Agincourt, who had to see a different flick.

"I read the (Da Vinci Code)," he said. "It's like Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia. You read the book, then watch the movie."