re: Characters (still spoilers here, folks.)
Last Thursday, the KC Star reprinted an interview with Joss Whedon (credited to the NYT)...
Q: You kill off a few main characters in the movie. What’s the thinking there?
A: It wasn’t my first instinct. And then I realized, again, I’m making this movie as a singular event for people who’ve never seen the show, with an understanding there will never be another. Now, that doesn’t mean there will never be another — that means you have to make your movie that way. Taking out some beloved characters means that everybody’s life is on the table. Without that, the last half-hour is a bunch of noise to me.
Q: You were, obviously, devastated at how things with “Firefly” went down. Did making this movie help?
A: Something was created out of this, but something died, too — “Firefly” and “Serenity” are different. The cancellation of “Firefly” is not something I feel myself ever getting over, because I still have those hundred stories in my head. But I’ll settle for three or four really big ones. And if I have to, I’ll settle for one.
That interview is where I learned a main character would die during the film -- I wasn't expecting two, and I sure as hell wasn't expecting Wash. I'm as bummed as your daughter, Tom (I didn't get in costume)... and she may have a point about a sequel. Or maybe not.
On the whole, I think Whedon's first answer sounds like alcaray's idea: If it were real, everybody’s life is on the table.
The one thing I wonder about... will this cinematic foreknowledge change my enjoyment of the rest of the series?
Speaking of killed-off characters, I enjoyed David Krumholtz as "Mr. Universe", playing an extreme version of his role as Charlie Eppes on "Numb3rs".