The Book Was Better

A lot of books I’ve loved have been made into movies. I’m not an absolute purist but I think you need to maintain the spirit of the original work or disregard it entirely.

I’m not nuts about movies that take the core idea of the original story and then run wild with it but it’s easier to recognize them as distinct entities when they have very little in common. Ella Enchanted and I Am Legend had almost nothing in common with their inspirations except general premise and character names. I have an easier time with those films than those that pretend to stay loyal to their book but readily ignore it when it’s convenient.

I treat the final Harry Potter film like most people treat the 4^th Indiana Jones film: It didn’t happen. I made the mistake of reading all the books earlier that year so I remembered details that escape me now. Even with a few years in between, I still remember little things they changed for no explicable reason. All those changes did was weaken the story.

In the final HP movie, there’s a scene where they try to get into the wizard bank, Gringotts, using a disguise and an invisibility cloak. In the book, the source of identification for the disguised character was stolen. The bank was aware of that and the characters had to improvise to not get caught. In the book, she refuses to show it at all and they still get into a bank vault.

Crime is taken very seriously by the Gringotts. In the first book a break in at the bank was huge news. These characters can flout bank policy in front of an audience and no one stops them? It weakened the story. It was a stupid decision on the part of the screenwriter. This happened several other times. I will not watch this movie ever again because I can’t stomach the job they did.

A few small changes that hurt the story, the screenwriter doesn’t need a bonus this year. Over half a dozen really obvious ones? You need to reexamine who you got to do this job.

I understand parts will be taken out or rewritten because literally translating a book to a visual medium is rarely an option. If you need to change the parts you keep in, have a reason. Changing something that would translate just fine from book to screen for no reason pisses me off.

The Hunger Games did an excellent job going from book to movie. I think the movie enhances the book rather than deviates from it. There is a part where Katniss gets a mockingjay pin. In the book, it comes from a character but the movie had it come from somewhere else. The minor character was written out but including her would have been more trouble than it’s worth for the role she played. I understand why they did that and am fine with it.

Hunger Games deviated from the book where it was necessary and stayed loyal whenever it could. For the final Harry Potter movie, I’m not sure how closely the screenwriter read the damn book. I have never seen a Harry Potter movie I was happy with but that was the only one I truly loathe.

Some would say I’m over thinking this but I’m a nerd. We get to be excited and passionate about things we love. We also get to be angry on the internet when people do bad things to what we love.

Music: After the Love Has Gone by Steps