Movie Versions

Over the weekend, I got to thinking about novels, and the movie versions that are made of certain novels. For the most part, movie versions tend to mess with the story line, change characters, and sometimes do not even attempt to follow the books they are supposed to resemble.

One notable example of this travesty is Rick Riordan's Lightning Thief. My kids have watched the movie several times, and we are reading the book together now. It is interesting to listen to their comments after reading a section in the book, especially those sections that were left out of the movie entirely. "Mom," they react, "that was such a cool part! Why wasn't it in the movie?"

That is increasingly a question I can't answer. Sometimes, I think it's an issue of time and pacing. In order to make a movie, certain scenes must be left out to keep it within acceptable time constraints.

One recent movie that has done honor to the book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The movie makers got around the time constraints by creating two movies from one book. And I am especially fond of the Part 2 movie. Congratulations all around for that one!

Now I'm looking forward to Hugo, the movie based on the Caldecott Award book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The book was amazing, ground-breaking, breath-taking.

Can the movie version possibly live up to the book? We shall see -- this weekend!