Oh Dune, this is one of those movies where all the pieces are there and they just do not come together properly.  It is full of talent with David Lynch directing and full of stars like Brad Dourif, Patrick Stewart, Virginia Madsen, Dean Stockwell, and the list goes on!  There are some beautiful sets, as well as some ugly ones (personally hate the Emperor's golden everything when it is described as jade).  For its day the special effects were pretty good, and the scope was pretty epic for movies that were coming out at that time.  So why did it fail? Why does it sometimes leave me wondering if the people making this movie read the same book I just did?