BoxOfSnoo: It had some cool aspects to it. I liked the thumpers and the worms. The Harkonnens were ridiculous.
As far as the book, it may help to read the glossary in the back first. Then you can learn what some of the strange expressions mean.
The worms were fugly, especially in the final fight scene. The thumpers, while interesting, weren't really something that a Fremen would be able to usually carry whilst in the desert. They were simply too big and wasteful looking. A Fremen would need something small and cheap-to-produce since they were one-shot items.
The Harkonnens, especially the Baron were horribly done. The whole point of the Emperor siding with them was that it was done in secret lest the Landsraad revolt. Instead, what do we get? Raban leading soldiers that look exactly like the Emperor's Sardukar. Also, Sting-in-a-diaper is one of those things that I wish I could erase from my mind.
And don't get me started on the Navigator...