I did not enjoy The World Is Not Enough; it seemed to me that Apted was trying too hard to humanize Bond and make him vulnerable in ways that he should not be (he's James Bond, after all). Also, Denise Richards is rubbish.

I agree with this completely. It is my least favorite Bond movie.  For some reason a lot of people seem to like it. 

Also you have a talented actor like Robert Carlysle and completely waste him. 

Pierce Brosnan was a great Bond in horrible Bond Movies, except Golden Eye. I would have loved it if he had done some remakes of Robert Moore or the others... don't touch the Connery ones though.

BTW, Connery was not the first bond. Barry Nelson was.

Haha, no.  It's my favorite because I absolutely love the idea of Bond faking his own death to go super-undercover.  Bleaching his chest hair as a disguise is pretty badass too.  And I love finally getting to see Blofeld (Donald Pleasance kicks ass).  The volcano is one of my favorite lairs.  It's got spaceships eating each other, helicopters picking up cars with magnets, and that cool bed-into-the-wall move at the beginning.  It's got everything I want out of a spy movie.

Bond was really human in the books, and he didn't even like his job.  That's why they wanted to get Timothy Dalton for so long, so he could act human (which they really wanted after Moore).  They're trying to do it again with Daniel Craig (since Brosnan was basically the new Moore).

I have no experience with the books, and I haven't seen the film since its theatrical release, but I recall Bond being much more of a whiny bitch in the film, and much more susceptible to harm, than would seem to be normal for the character.

The World is Not Enough is the only Bond film I haven't seen, so I don't know how exactly how lame it was.  I just hope it wasn't as bad as Die Another Day.  I keep forgetting to see it.  But they did humanize Bond a few times previously, like when he got married and his wife was killed and he went nuts and tried to get revenge for the next few films.

I agree that Brosnan was the new Moore. he was just a lot better at it (probably because he looked more like an action hero and less like the creepy uncle. But there was still that hammy undertone running throughout the films. A cartoonish quality which just doesn't stand up very well over time.

I think a large part of the reason Brosnan Bond flicks are still so revered (which I don't expect to continue in the long term) is just a case of increasing budgets and effects. A hokey flick with hokey action is forever hokey. A hokey flick punctuated by very expensive and competent action sequences can be forgiven for some time (ala spiderman)

The only good James Bond was Sean Connery. The others were not even half as good as Sean Connery.
The best Bond film of all time was Dr No. The first Bond film is still the best film.

I never thought of Moore as a creepy uncle before, but from now on I'll never think of him any other way.

Brosnan is my favorite Bond. Goldeneye was the first Bond film I saw and I enjoy his movies (Die Another Day not withstanding) the most. Don't know why, just do.