A few weeks ago, there was a loud argument in my house that went on for days. The new Harry Potter movie was coming out, and my youngest wanted to go see it. 
"I won't let you see it until you read the book," his older brother informed him.
I wasn't going to let a seven-year-old see this movie anyway, and he's a long way from reading the book, so I didn't bother getting on my older son's case for deciding that he got to tell his brother what movies he could and could not see.
The only book-to-movie conversion I've ever enjoyed was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Gene Wilder; I haven't even seen the remake and probably won't.) Ordinarily, if I've read the book, I want no part of seeing the movie. That was especially true of the first Harry Potter movie (the only one I've seen.) I didn't want to see that movie, because I had read several of the books and had imagined what all the characters looked like, and what Hogwarts was like--and I knew that the movie would ruin my imaginary picture of all this. That's exactly what happened, too.
Another disappointment was The First Wives Club. I had such high hopes for that movie after enjoying the novel--especially since the cast could have been so great together. But the movie just was not all that funny. All in all, it was a real waste of comic talent.
So I was very surprised last week, after reading Julie & Julia, when I found myself wanting to see the movie that comes out tomorrow. I didn't particularly like the book, but I've been wondering if the story would translate better to the big screen. That would be the first time that I found a movie version preferable to the book.
But there's a first time for everything, I guess.
COUPON TIME
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5 Responses to “Read the Book, or See the Movie?”
Thanks. I think this will be great for my little one. Thanks for the heads up.
Christine by Stephen King was a movie that was close to the book.
Thank you for the heads up! My little one will also love this.
All of my girlfriends do love Harry Blotter's, I mean Potters' story. Why do girls love them? Hmmm. Well good job with the article and stuff.
Thanks for this, my little nephew will like this!