Epic Book to Movie Fails
As a reader it is always quite disappointing when you get all excited about a book you love finally making it to the big screen only for it to let you down horribly. Of course, I know that a movie cannot stick to a book word for word most of the time. There needs to be enough actions to pull people in, and they can't go on for four or five hours to get every piece of the story in there. However, with this in mind, many books have been successfully turned into movies. I would call Lord of the Rings successful as well as The Fault in Our Stars. Even with some of the mistakes in the middle of the series, the Harry Potter movies were still successful at telling Harry's epic story.
I want to be clear that my list below is mostly about how the actors, producers, and scriptwriters did not stay true to the original story in the books at all. It does not necessarily say anything about the movie itself as a stand-alone. Some of these films would have been great had I been neutral and never read the books.
Feel free to let me know how you felt about these book to movie conversions in the comments and how you think they could have been adapted better.
The Twilight Series
Let's be honest. Despite the lack of technique by the inexperienced writer, the idea for the story is beautiful. This epic love story is a lot of people's guilty pleasure, whether they are ready to admit it or not. All errors aside, this is an epic tale of endless love that dips into themes of classics to pull out these two love-struck teenagers; one of which has been a teenager for a very long time.
In the realm of adapting books to movies how hard could this one possibly be? It seemed pretty straightforward to me, but somehow, they still managed to get it all wrong.
The casting was the first mistake. They were clearly after the most well-known actors and actresses they could fine without having to pay out too much. So, this resulted in a group of shoved together B-list actors that they were able to turn into A-list actors after the movies made some money.
Edward was perhaps the only of the three main characters that was believably cast and played the part just as it was intended. Robert Pattinson offered the right amount of silent cockiness and mystery with good looks that he did not care for or put to good use. he also got all that self-loathing correct. As a couple outside of the movie, he and Kristen Stewart were great, but Bella just seemed fumbling and awkward in all the wrong ways. YES, Bella is supposed to be a little brooding and clumsy, but this was way beyond that realm. However, I think she must have been schooled about this before the last two movies because she suddenly picked it up.
Much of the story ended up missing, and so it was hard to even grasp onto the love story. In fact, the films made it seem like Jacob was the better match. And while I love the actor who played him, that was exactly the problem. Jacob was not meant to be so likable. In the books, he quickly goes from whiny to conniving in his attraction to Bella only to end up falling in love with her infant daughter just before going to kill the baby. He is supposed to bother you.
Eragon
Need I say anything else? I am pretty sure I am not the only one who noticed that this was all around horrible. It was done low-budget and gave little substance to the underlying story. The script made sure that no connection was built with a single one of the characters, and there is a reason the second book never saw the light of day on the big screen.
Vampire Academy
This one was an epic disaster. If you have not read the books, you were probably quickly turned away from doing so by seeing just the previews for this thing. They shoved bits and pieces from all the books into one movie and gave it no substance. the story was almost completely missing as were the side love stories that I connected to in the book. Somehow, the team who created this catastrophe was able to turn a unique paranormal romance into a rendition of mean girls with vampires.
The Divergent Series
This is one of those that I would have loved had I not read the books. The Divergent series on the big screen made the big bucks for reason. Cinematically, it was done incredibly well. i was thrilled that Shailene Woodly was cast as the main character because she was exactly what i imagined as I was reading it.
I was mostly pleased with the first film. It was missing a few things, but it captured all the things people needed to know just fine. It even got the love story right.
However, I was horrified by the other films. Again, the special effects and acting were on point, but it was almost like it wasn't based on the books at all after the first one. It left me very confused.
The Mortal Instruments
This one is the one that hurts me the most and yet bothers me the least, if that even makes any sense. The casting was spot-on. I had absolutely no problem with that or the acting. My only issue with the characters at all was the costume used for Valentine. Valentine had salt and pepper hair and a suit. he was middle aged and foreboding but not in the way they made him. He wasn't supposed to look hot and goth. he was supposed to look more like an intimidating business man.
I will admit to owning the move. There were quite a few gaps, and it seemed rushed, but on its own, it is great to watch. I wish they had been able to continue with the series that way instead of moving onto the worst hack job of the books possible for the TV show. I do not know how that one has viewers because it is awful.
And that is why this one hurts the most, because it had potential to be fixed and be great. It doesn't help that it is one of my favorite book series of all times.
Picture credits:
ofliterarynature.tumblr.com
http://www.filmaffinity.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_(2008_film)
Iris Sweetwater is a paranormal romance and fantasy author. Her second book, the first in a werewolf romance series, will be released on May 2. Find out more about her and her work at the following links:
