Book Movies

So, everybody picks apart romantic comedies and previews for fun, but one thing fans love to rip apart are the movies inspired by books. The hardcore fans of the books can never be happy with what the movie provides. People complain if the plot changes (even if only slightly), if characters are left out, and fans especially hate it when movies don’t get the exact image the readers created in their heads. However, regardless of how much devoted fans hate these movies, they still always go and leave only to complain some more.

The biggest, most common example I can think of is, of course the famous Harry Potter:

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books are known all over the world by every child and adult as it has been translated into 65 languages. So naturally, all 7 of the Harry Potter books has its collection of fans, and when a book gets to be that popular, it only makes sense to make it into a movie to collect more money and turn it into even bigger of a prodigy. The first couple of movies, like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, were astounding even to the crazy book fans simply because it brought the setting of Hogwarts to life and mirrored the images of the characters in the book. However, as the movies continued, people found more and more to complain about. As the movies were approaching the fourth and fifth book, it was hard to pack in all 800 some odd pages into a 2 hour movie. My cousins, two VERY die hard Harry Potter fans who know the books back to front, were very disappointed in the fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. Apparently, the movie left out multiple subplots like a teaching centaur and minor characters like some crazy old house elf. However, in the end, these subplots and characters made no difference. Harry Potter still saved the day.

In order to avoid disappointment with the movies, I have come up with a solution. You have to view the movies separately from the book. For those of you get really hyped up for the new Narnia or Harry Potter movies, make sure not to read the book right before the movie comes out. It’ll just lead to you remembering all the little stuff the director couldn’t squeeze in. And squeezing in 800 pages of nonstop action into a 3 hour movie (and 3 hours is pushing it for an unbearably long movie) is impossible. It’s just not right, things need to be changed, and what’s important is the main point still gets across. I understand it’s depressing if you’re favorite minor character doesn’t make it to the big screen, but just read the book again. The movies are usually all still amazing with great effects and big name actors/actresses, so enjoy the movies and save the books for the nice quiet days in front of the fireplace.