I would have to say that the comic is way better then the movie. It went into details that the movies had to take out. I haven't being reading about it but I really liked the black armor that guts got from that old lady back in the woods. That reminds me. now that I have to time I'm going to log off here and go catch up with the book.
By the "movie" you mean the 25 episodes that were aired back in the 90's? I would have to agree with you. I'm not sure what they were doing back then, but they had to probably consolidate the story line into 25 episodes. Although, (IMO) the animation itself wasn't too appealing, the story line, plot, character developments were pretty good.
Hopefully, this time around, things look better. Fans to the manga have been going crazy since the 90s. We should all just be happy to see them making a movie (that is also based on the story line).
Here's some more info: