Monday, January 10, 2005

Books, Not Movies

I don't know why I do it to myself. Perhaps I'm into torture. Or maybe curiousity simply got the best of me. Whatever the reason, I simply have to stop seeing movies that started their careers as books. At least for the books that I have read. I had resolved in the past to do just that, but last night, I had a lapse. I rented "Ella Enchanted." It is a wonderful book that I've read several times. When I taught, I read it to my kids. They liked it too, even the boys. The book is charming of its own accord. What could they have done to it? Ruined it, I say. The plot lines and characters are loosely based on the story and characters developed by the author. Other than the bare minimum required to assume the same title as the novel, nothing matches. After the first scene in the movie, I knew it would be a disaster. It didnt' even take the first scene in its entirety, perhaps only half of it. I cannot imagine why the executives would change such a charming book into a mediocre movie. It isn't like the Potter series where the majority of the world has read it already and plays to those readers. No, they tried to make it into something it wasn't. It may have been a good movie. My opinion is too biased in favor of the book to even see if the movie was good. I didn't care for the fan-club-obsessed teenage girls. It was too modern for the time frame, even if it is a fairy-tale. I will have to settle for reading the book and completely ignoring the movie. I was tempted to watch "Tuck Everlasting" too. I'll probably skip it now.

1 comment:

Cybele said...

I've come to accept that movies based on books are just "other things." They're kind of like a candy bar based on a book - it'll never be the same and any attempt to compare them (or even get your hopes up) will always lead to disappointment.

I was really looking forward to Girl with a Pearl Earring, because I thought that the visuals of a film could actually add something (because it's about painting and the novel had no pictures). Even though the writer seemed to be very involved in project, they seemed to dumb down the themes to it being some sort of chaste love story.

I'm really curious to see what Tim Burton is going to do to Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.