You’ve seen some of our favorite movie adaptations (well, if you haven’t then you can go and check it out now), now it’s time for the ones we didn’t quite like. Prepare yourself, and we apologize in advance if you happened to like any of these movies!
Eliza:
Jeremy Fink And The Meaning Of Life (2011)
I’m sorry but, this was just… horrible.
Now, I absolutely loved the book. It’s one of my favorites ever. So I have to admit I was looking forward to this movie.
I was sorely disappointed. And it wasn’t just a bad book-to-movie adaptation—it was a bad movie in general, too!
Now, I apologize to all the people who worked on this movie. And to those who might have liked the movie. But they probably should not have decided to adapt this book. I mean, I’m sure they’re all good actors (though they did not really portray the characters of Jeremy and Lizzy well). And I’m sure the writers have a shot (though they did add some unnecessary scenes, in my opinion), as well as the director. And the cameramen. And the editors. You know. But this was just really not their best work.
And it’s not even just things like, Jeremy and Lizzy having the wrong hair color (as you can see in the poster, Jeremy has brown hair, while Lizzy is blond. But in the book, Jeremy is blonde (I think), and Lizzy is a red-head), it’s also stuff like just not presenting the book well. The way they presented Jeremy’s and Lizzy’s characters, for one, was kind of painful. And they somehow made it feel less heartfelt, and instead… Shallow, I guess? It’s so bad that it’s forgettable but also memorable. It’s…. I am losing my words trying to describe how much I disliked this movie, so I’ll just stop. Just take it from me and please never watch this movie.
Clarisse:
Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014)
Despite being more or less a failure with the critics and fans, I don’t think these movies are as horrible as most people claim them to be. In fact, I actually really like the first one by itself. The writing is not the worst I’ve seen; the editing and sound design are pretty good (which you’d expect from such a high-budget production); and while the CGI hasn’t aged that well, again, I’d say that it’s not the most awful thing I’ve seen. Unless, of course, you’re comparing it to newer high-budget films or The Lord of the Rings itself. But admittedly, if I was trying to get someone into Tolkien and Middle-earth I wouldn’t recommend them to start by watching The Hobbit films.
All this to say, The Hobbit doesn’t hold up very well when you look at it as a book adaptation. In fact, I’d say that its failure to faithfully adapt the book leads to some of the major problems it suffers from as a movie. By “faithful” I don’t mean that they needed to copy the text word-for-word, but maybe, just maybe, if they had tried for a tone and plot that was more like The Hobbit and less like an attempted remake of The Lord of the Rings, the movies would have been more unique and memorable to fans and general moviegoers alike.
Ciel’s:
The Giver (2014)
Asher, what have they done to you :((. Here is a review explaining exactly why I disliked the adaptation of The Giver because ya boi has been lazy- I mean, busy :(((. (https://www.literarytraveler.com/books/the-giver-adapting-the-original-young-adult-dystopia/)
Amadeus:
Percy Jackson 1 and 2 (2010-2013)
–SPOILER WARNING–
Both Percy Jackson movies, definitely. I won’t bother to put all of the inaccuracies in the movies here, because it would take up way too much space. But seriously, were they even trying to make a good adaptation?
Inaccuracies:
- Everyone being too old
- Annabeth’s hair being brown
- Chiron’s horse body not being the right color
- Lots of omitted details in both movies
- A Hekatonkheire appearing in a bar (Briares being the last one existing and should’ve appeared much later into the series)
- Persephone and Hades being out of character
- Wrong usage of Cyclops in Thalia’s backstory
- Chiron not being fired in Sea of Monsters
- Tyson being way out of character
- Luke being outed as the bad guy too early
- Nectar being used for pleasure instead of healing, conspicuously without the risk of spontaneous combustion
- Kronos reviving in Sea of Monsters (way too early), looking all wrong, and reviving the wrong way
- So much more…
Ysha:
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
There are two things you absolutely need to get right in a murder mystery: making the audience invested in the set-up, and validating their commitment with the pay-off. This adaptation chucks all that out the window.
The mystery feels rushed and dragging at the same time, more like watching chess pieces at a game board than characters living their lives. I was never compelled to actually care about anything, which sucks because the execution in the book — which I had not read before watching this — actually was interesting.
(Oh hey, it’s an actor I know. Okay. Moving on.)
Like, this movie wasn’t even that bad; just painfully okay at everything. But my beef with it! At least bad would have meant something.
This movie just feels unnecessary.
Kate:
A Wrinkle In Time (2018)
In all honesty, I loved the book version of A Wrinkle in Time, and I was excited to see how the filmmakers would handle all the special effects and twists of the plotline. Unfortunately, it did not meet my high expectations. So many of the features of the plot were changed that it did not even closely resemble the book. Additionally, I did not like the way in which Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Which were portrayed throughout the movie. The mystic aura of the film did not, in my opinion, match with the more scientific, albeit ethereal, book. Maybe I had set the bar too high due to reading the book first, but I would have liked to have seen more of the book’s plot in that of the movie.
And that was some of our least favorite movie adaptations of good books. Again, apologies to those who liked these movies. Though I’m guessing most people who read this will agree with our choices. If you do, or even if you don’t tell us. And if you happened to have only seen the movies, do check the books out. I promise they’re (most probably) going to be much better.
Bookworms and Bluestockings 