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Reviews addressing the success of film adaptations from
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Eat, Pray, Love
I have read Eat, Pray, Love something like five times. I found it spoke to me while traveling, while going through deep and dark depression, and while in the throes of heavy heartbreak. Since its publication and explosive success it has been teased, mocked, and labeled chick lit. So when I heard there would be a film adaptation I was very excited and afterwards was very disappointed. Every time I’ve watched it since the initial viewing I have gone in with an open mind and told myself I’d been too hard on it the first time. However, my objections just accumulate. As my husband put it “a brightly colored female fantasy about traveling to cool places and then running into a hot guy who is good at having sex, and throw in a slice of poverty soft-core porn at the end.” 2.5 out of 5 stars
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paPer tOwnS
Paper Towns is told from the point of view of Quentin who has been in love with Margo Roth Spiegelman – the girl across the street – since he was seven years old. She is wild and vivacious and both scares and inspires him. Then she disappears. Running away is nothing new for her, but she doesn’t seem to intend to return this time. So Quentin and his band of misfits goes off in search of her.
My favorite theme from this story is that it attempts to dispel the myth of the manic-pixie-dreamgirl – and it’s not from a feminist or even a female point of view. This is a man telling teenage boys to stop creating or searching for that girl and telling girls to stop letting the image they’ve created about themselves dictate who they are. Be more by being something less grand. Don’t be a legend. Be a human girl. And don’t fall in love with someone’s mystique. Fall in love with a someone. 3.5 out of 5 stars (Click on Picture for Full Review)
My favorite theme from this story is that it attempts to dispel the myth of the manic-pixie-dreamgirl – and it’s not from a feminist or even a female point of view. This is a man telling teenage boys to stop creating or searching for that girl and telling girls to stop letting the image they’ve created about themselves dictate who they are. Be more by being something less grand. Don’t be a legend. Be a human girl. And don’t fall in love with someone’s mystique. Fall in love with a someone. 3.5 out of 5 stars (Click on Picture for Full Review)
Mockingjay Part One
Once again, a story that doesn’t need the extra space to spread out has been divided into two films. I
can’t help but notice that what seems to be happening with the serializing of
the final installments in series is that they are becoming watered down. Which
is why I left Mockingjay kind of
baffled; they had remained faithful to the book, much of it was as I had
pictured it, and it seemed well done. But it felt kind of… blah. It doesn’t
stand alone as a film. And when I think back to my overall impression all I see
is gray and concrete. Splitting up a complete story that originally
had multiple levels of light and dark and a satisfying resolution results in,
well, a story that is half as good.
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The Fault in Our Stars
I am so sick of rabid TFIOS fans crying that this isn’t a book about cancer. Could you please have the cojones to own that this is a book about cancer? Few people would give a crap about this love story if they weren’t dying.
That being said, it is a lovely story. I went into the theater pretty cynical. Then about halfway through the film when Augustus Waters is working his magic on both Hazel and me, I remembered how it was going to end. “Oh crap. This movie is going to rip me apart, isn’t it?” Then future me handed me a tissue and said while sniffling, “Uh huh.”
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That being said, it is a lovely story. I went into the theater pretty cynical. Then about halfway through the film when Augustus Waters is working his magic on both Hazel and me, I remembered how it was going to end. “Oh crap. This movie is going to rip me apart, isn’t it?” Then future me handed me a tissue and said while sniffling, “Uh huh.”
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Divergent
I liked the movie better than the book. *Duck as objects are thrown at me.* It’s possible that I judged the story harsher than usual because I’ve been up to my eyebrows in dystopian trilogies and as a result I’m starting to see the strings.The most interesting part of this movie is watching the
growth and conflict within the main character Tris as she grapples with her
fears and weaknesses, her love for her family – now spread across three
different factions since her brother chose erudite – the fascinating
transformation from abnegation sweetheart to dauntless badass, and her own deep
dark secret about her divergence. I struggle to cling to every other premise
just so I can keep watching Tris’ journey.
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The Book Thief
This adaptation, based on the Markus Zusak novel, is faithful and lovely. Seeing the story come to life was a magical experience. It’s been a few years since I read the novel, but it felt the same. In a world where free thought and knowledge are the most dangerous things you can possess, Liesel fearlessly and secretly cultivates her collection. She also learns that despite the overwhelming forces against her attempts to gather knowledge, the attempts often lead her to rare individuals with similar passions who aid her efforts even in the face of danger.
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The Hobbit
I read the book less than a month before the movie … and I remember it being a lot cuter. However, the darker changes help it fit in well with the rest of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As
I said, and I say every time, I’m not usually one to nitpick over how every
detail compares to the book. But half of this movie was unrecognizable from the
book. This is not to say that it is a bad movie. On the contrary, it’s pretty
fantastic, funny, inspiring, exciting, adventurous, and all the things a Lord of the Rings movie should be. But,
frankly, it doesn’t replace the cartoon version of The Hobbit.
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Les Miserables
I can’t believe it has taken this long for a musical film adaptation of Les Misérables. Without the music you might as well just curl up in a dark corner and think horribly tragic thoughts until you run out of tears. The music in this story is what snow is to winter: it makes the cold bearable and beautiful. I have seen Les Misérables twice on the stage so I thought I was adequately prepared to see the film version. And by prepared I mean I knew that I would be ripped apart from the inside out.
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(Click on Picture for Full Review)
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Perks of Being a Wallflower is a great reminder of how wonderful and incredibly sucky high school was. It also reminds you that you haven’t felt anything as intensely as you did as a teenager in a long time – and how that is both a relief and a little sad. It is told through letters from the protagonist named Charlie written to an unknown person. Charlie is a wallflower, urged at the beginning of the story by his English teacher to “participate.” Charlie’s goal throughout is to move out of his position as observer and join the living. Doing so means making friends. They introduce him to the world of “good” music, Rocky Horror Picture Show, girls/dating, parties, drinking, drugs, and what it feels like to live your life and how once you start living you inevitably start making mistakes.
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The Hunger Games
The much anticipated Hunger Games adaptation finally landed last night in theaters filled with teens and young adults. I had been wondering before I’d even heard that a movie was being produced, how a such a violent and dark story that Suzanne Collins ingeniously managed to make appropriate for young adults, into a movie where the murderous actions would be given the immediacy of image and sound. And to be honest it was harder to take than simply reading about it, but not too much more. But just to be on the safe side I entered the theater with a stuffed animal to cling to and I don’t regret that decision.
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The Help
I think this is an example of a writer/director playing it too safe in the adaptation. By retaining everything exactly as it was written in the book, the same feeling wasn’t completely captured. In one phrase, my opinion of this film: safe direction and adaptation, phenomenal acting.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two
Hello fellow mind-blown citizens. Last Thursday at midnight we all left childhood behind on the sticky movie theater floors across the globe. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two was definitely the last half of another movie. One thing I’ve always kind of appreciated about the Harry Potter movies is that – while supplemented by having seen the other movies, or better yet having read the books a couple dozen times each – each one has arguably been able to stand on its feet as a movie unto itself. This, however, was a film expressly meant for those who knew what was going on. There was the constant feeling of “I don’t have time to explain. I’ve got a world to save.”
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Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing turned Suburban girl
This may feel more like a plug for everyone to read one of my favorite books The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Let me begin by saying it’s not as girly as it sounds. However, the movie adaptation – that fortunately no one has heard of – is. The film version is called Suburban Girl after one of the chapters in the novel called “The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Can Imagine.” At first glance it could be dismissed as chick lit even though, the cover does not sport the cartoonish and colorful, head cut off body of a stick figure which seems to be the only design chick litters can come up with. Since I’m so madly in love with this book I checked to see if there was some obscure film adaptation I’d never heard of. There was.The cover was as colorful and fluffy as all my chick lit nightmares. There’s even the head-lacking body. Marc Ryan (Serendipity) passed up a prime opportunity to create a much needed substantial, cerebral romantic/comedy, but instead produced another shiny chick flick for the masses. Dying Sarah Michelle Gellar’s hair brown does not make her more down to earth.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory vs. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory vs.
Roald Dahl
Yes, everyone loves the 1970 version because it’s happy and chocolate-covered and non-creepy. (I have to admit that sometimes I just watch the opening credits, turn it off, and go make brownies. Or at least brownie batter.) As a film and as a part of my very early childhood, I also treasure the film. However. How it holds up as an adaptation is another story.
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Ella Enchanted
In 2004, Tommy O’Haver directed the adaptation of Gail Carson Levine’s Newberry Honored novel Ella Enchanted. Anne Hathaway was cast as Ella opposite Hugh Dancy playing Prince Char. With such strong leads, Minnie Driver as Ella’s fairy godmother, and Levine’s superb novel as a foundation one would expect this motion picture to be a wonderful creation. Granted, the actors did a fine job with what they had to work with.
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