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I think they've gone so far out of their way to avoid it being 'offensive' to anyone that it basically isn't about anything at all. What they should have done was either forget the whole idea of filming the books at all, or just gone the whole hog & risked offending some of the potential audience. My suspicion is that they bought the rights without knowing anything about the book, or what it contained - it was a 'childrens' book' by a guy from Oxford (like those Tolkien/Lewis guys... ) - & it was only once they'd got the thing & started to look at it that they decided 'D***! there's no way we can put this out as it is!'
Of course, once you start 'removing' or altering a story 'to avoid offending the audience' its easy to go too far & end up with a movie that is simply so bland & inoffensive that all you have at the end is two + hours of special effects connected by a simplistic storyline that nobody wants to see.
Of course, they haven't announced that there won't be a sequel, so we can't rule one out (or even a mini-series) - but my suspicion is that the reason for that is commercial - it would badly affect the TV & DVD rights if it was made plain that there won't be anymore. Who wants to watch the first part of a story that won't be completed?
Mind you, look at Firefly - that flopped on TV, but was so popular on DVD that they got the finacing to make a movie. Of course, the Serenity movie only cost a tiny fraction of what The Subtle Knife/Amber Spyglass would...
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