Hi all! I can’t believe it’s October already and we’re three-quarters of the way through the Book to Movie Challenge! I’m finally starting to get caught up, having read eight books and watched six movies (review of The Count of Monte Cristo movie to come). So far, I think my favorite movie was The King’s Speech and my favorite book was Sense and Sensibility. And now on to how everyone else is doing!
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Hi all! We are officially at the halfway point in the Book to Movie challenge! Well, halfway through the year anyway. Personally, I’m a quarter of the way through my challenge, having read and reviewed Starship Troopers, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Jane Eyre. I haven’t loved any of them as much as some adaptations I saw last year, but hopefully things will pick up with my next book-to-movie read (I’m thinking The King’s Speech). Now, on to how everyone else is doing! Read more »
For my watching of Jane Eyre, I just grabbed what was on the shelf at the library and ended up with this BBC miniseries. It was about 5 hours long and stuck very close to the book. I’m not sure if this is typical of BBC productions, but the acting often struck me as over the top and rather theatrical. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely different.
Proving that you simply can’t please everyone with an adaptation despite the mostly meticulous following of the book, there were still a few things I thought important that got left out! There wasn’t anything specific I feel the need to complain about though, as overall this was a very faithful adaptation. Strangely, even with most events kept intact, I felt something was missing. A lot of this story is about what Jane thinks and feels, as she explains the story to you in the book. In the movie, her thoughts weren’t always clear and I think it lost a lot of the depth and beauty of the book as a result. I might try another adaptation in the future, but this one made me feel like this was a story that’s just better told by a book.
Like so many book-based movies, Under the Tuscan Sun stole the title and some of the basics from the book, then threw everything else out the window. The movie was nothing like the book. Being a movie, the plot had to be all about romance and drama. The book was more about a return to a simple life and Frances was already seeing someone – a fact which didn’t even play a large role in the book. In some movies, these drives me slowly insane as I see how well they could have done the book. In this case, I can find it in me to forgive them since the book arguably had no plot to begin with. Something had to happen for this to be a good movie and for something to happen, they had to make things up. Read more »
Hello all! This marks the three month point on our Book to Movie Challenge so I’m going to let you all know a little bit about how I and your other fellow readers are doing. Our first review linked up was A Christmas Carol by Darlene’s Book Nook and the latest review added was The Case of the Late Pig from Sergio at Tipping My Fedora. Counting me, 10 of us only have one review done. Both Bettina at A Corner of the Library and Sergio at Tipping My Fedora have 5 – the most anyone has done! My only review so far has been Starship Troopers (Book and Movie reviews both done). I have, however, read some other books intending to watch the movie and then had the movie vanish off Netflix, so hopefully I’ll get more done the next three months. I hope everyone is having fun and would love to hear how things are going 🙂
There are just a few important things you need to know to understand what Starship Troopers (the movie version) is all about. First, it does not have the same feel as Heinlein’s book. A lot of the pro-military sentiment was clearly over the top and came across as almost a parody of the original. Many of the events are preserved, but a lot of details are added of necessity, since you have to see things in a movie even if they weren’t described in the book. However, a lot of character development and relationships between characters are added too. The sharp military feel is preserved though and I thought the dry humor was brought out more. Personally, I enjoyed these changes and even felt like the movie makers probably had many of the same complaints I did with the book. But it’s possible that if you loved the book, you could find the changes frustrating. Read more »
This movie is a perfect example of one of the worst things that can be done when a book is turned into a movie. Basically, the only things that made it from the book to the movie are the title, the characters, and some of the initial set-up for the story. Major plot points were changed, such as the setting of the book in Romania instead of the US with Vivian not attending high school. Although the book isn’t purely high school drama, this was a large component of the book totally missing from the movie. Most importantly, the ending and Vivian’s character were both very different. Instead of a sensual being pursuing the boy she likes, she’s very nervous about starting a relationship with him. For me, that completely changed the feel of her character. And of course, changing the ending completely changed the point of the book. The casting of the characters and the beautiful Romanian scenery were really the only things it had going for it. It was ok as a movie, but it didn’t have anywhere near the impact it could have had if it had just stuck to the book.
I don’t usually see movies in theaters, but I loved this book enough that I’ve been anxiously counting the days until I could go see Anna Karenina. Amazingly, this movie was better than I had dared imagine it would be. Initially, I wasn’t so sure. The movie is in many ways made to look like a play. There are occasional repetitive little dance numbers used to establish a bureaucratic atmosphere. There are interesting scene changes, where people roll furniture on screen or a character walks through a door and into a new scene entirely. And there are a ton of artsy effects. It was something I would have expected much more in a play then in a movie. But it worked! The use of artistic effects to convey emotions and let you into the character’s heads was incredibly well done. Read more »
This isn’t something I say very often, but… I think this story was actually better as a movie than as a book! Like Eat, Pray, Love, the ending was changed a little for extra movie drama, but with that exception the book was followed pretty faithfully. I loved that the narration included direct quotes from the book! In my ideal world, every movie based on a book would be exactly like watching the book come to life and the direct quotes captured that feeling. I also have a soft spot for movies with funny narrators. The casting was great as well. Any characters that weren’t exactly as I pictured them, were even better then I imagined. Read more »
At the beginning, I was really impressed with this movie. The casting was great – and I don’t just say that because I love Julia Roberts. She was a great choice to capture the author’s self-deprecating sense of humor, but all the other actors were well-chosen too. The movie has a much greater appeal as a travel memoir because of the beautiful scenery. And the movie did an amazing job wordlessly conveying feelings like the author’s love of Italian food and the potential for romance with her Italian tutor. Read more »
