Here is how to ruin a movie:
Step 1) Read the book first.
Step 2) Watch the movie adaptation of the book.
Step 3) Compare them.
Pretty easy.
For my birthday, my sweet and unselfish eight year-old son Colin gave me the movie version of Kate Dicamillo’s book The Tale of Despereaux. Then, every thirty minutes or so after I unwrapped it, he asked if we could watch it. I think he just wanted to make sure I really enjoyed my birthday. Right?
So, we watched it, and I think I would have liked it a ton better if I had not read the book. When we finished, Colin said that they changed a lot of things. He was right. What I don’t understand is why they did. It is such a sweet and sorrowful and redeeming book, I can’t understand why they had to recast the story so greatly in order to make it a movie.
Today I unburied an article someone had printed out for me months ago, but which I had set aside to read only after I’d seen the movie myself. This article, which you can read here, helps me to see some of the virtues of the movie which I missed because I was too busy grousing about the changes.
That said, and knowing the risks, if you have not yet seen the movie, read the book first.