I read the books and really enjoyed them. But the last few I was a bit tired of the scenario but in the beginning I just read one after another. Not sure who tried to make them into a movie but it was done so poorly it kind of ruined the books for me. They tried to make it "cute" and made fools out of the people, it just didn't work.
The "Cat Who" books by Lillian Jackson Braun were quite fun too.