How many times have I or any other reader complained that a movie adaptation is soo much different from the book that it is based on. Yet there are instances when I'm glad that the movie deviates from the book. Perhaps this is only in the cases where I have only read the book after watching movie. Maybe not? But the two I remember is where I had watch the movie first.
The first being Ella Enchanted.
More recently Children of Men.
I loved the Children of Men movie when it came out a few years ago. A bleak vision of the future that seem so simple and probable. Like Ella Enchanted, I didn't even know it was based on a book until a few years later.
The thing about reading a book that has been turned into a movie is that you already know the story. The fun of discovery and surprise goes out the window. But I was pleasantly surprise soon after I started the Children of Men book that the story is quite different from the movie. Yes the premise is the same, mankind can no longer procreate, and the cast of characters are similar with similar characteristics and yet some of their roles in the story is different. The book too delves more into power hungry leaders and the tendency of power to corrupt those who believe they set out to do good. While the movie did this as well by showing the unraveling of the rebellion I saw the movie more of a dangerous journey to find a safe haven and hope.
Did I know what would happen to Theo halfway through the book? No. Theo in the book was faced with different obstacles than the Theo in the movie. And like I have said at the start of this post I rather like rediscovering a somewhat similar story.
Have you had similar experiences as I had with a book?
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