All My Thoughts on Movie Adaptations

Hello friends! I just finished Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (SO GOOD JUST BTW) and was inspired to write about movie adaptations of books. Which books I want to be turned to movies the pros and cons of them, and some of my favorites.

Also, I am now SO EXCITED for Love, Simon AND A Wrinkle in Time. March is my month!

Every book lover wants their favorite books to continue after they finish reading it. They never want the universe to end. For me, that is the largest reason for why I am excited for movie adaptations of books. It is an opportunity to see the book presented in a new way again. It’s like reading it for the first time. 

Some other pros:

• Seeing your favorite scenes acted out live
• Some actors just embody the character PERFECTLY
• Movie soundtracks
• Getting to relive the story again!
• Movie goodies
• Movie food (sorry I’m a hungry girl)
• Some add cool little twists that actually make the plot line make more sense
• You can go to the movies with your friends and annoy them by saying the lines along with the actors
• YOUR CHARACTERS ARE REAL

Of course, there is that saying “The book is better”. So obviously movie adaptations are not ALLL pros.

• The hype is SO HIGH
• Like is it even possible for movies to meet your expectations
• Sometimes they get things WRONG
• Like no, Lightning Thief, Annabeth has blond hair, not brown
• (Never truly over that)
• Or they reorganize the scenes and then it is just wrong
• Or they just miss the point of the book completely
• (I’m looking at you, Lightning Thief)

Movie adaptations of books are a mixed bag. You obviously have such high expectations because, well, you love the book. You’ve read it a million times. You have your own images of how the characters are and you’re excited to see the book in real life. Because that is amazing, isn’t it? Seeing your favorite books come to life even more. I know that A Wrinkle in Time was my childhood. I read it over and over again, and then went down the line and read every single book my Madeleine L’Engle. So obviously my expectations for the movie are high, because I’m basically handing my childhood to the movie producers and begging them not to mess it up. But on another level, I know it won’t be everything I want. Movie producers are going to add their own creative spin to it, and it might not be good or bad, just different than the book. The trick to watching a movie adaptation of a book, I’ve decided, is lowering your expectations so it is just a normal movie you are excited to watch. And trying not to compare it too much to the book as you are watching.

Speaking of bad movies, though, some are just BAD. Some take the book and do something completely wrong to it. You can already see my hatred of the Lightning Thief movie throughout this post. The characters were wrong and they focused too much on the search for the pearls and not the search for those winged shoes and lightning bolt. That is the most crushing feeling- when one of your favorite books are taken and twisted and just completely wrong. Hunger Games also had some major flaws with it.

Some are good though. We all have our gripes with the HP movies, but you have to admit they are pretty good, all things considering. To me, they represent the true magic of books being adapted to movies. It brought the book to life, and created a universe that extends past the pages of a book. I also liked TFIOS movies, but I’m not sure if that is an unpopular opinion or not. And The Notebook and A Walk to Remember will always have a special place in my heart.

• The Sisters Grimm: THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE A MOVIE OUT OF THIS FOR YEARS AND NEVER DID. Imagine how cool that would be???? This series was also my childhood, guys.
• One of Us Is Lying: I kinda think this could be a cool YA mystery movie. They could have all these cool special effects and such.
• Six of Crows: OBVIOUSLY. No explanation needed.
• Second Chance Summer: Or really just anything by Morgan Matson. Her books would make perfect summer blockbusters with all the cuteness and feels.
• Gallagher Girls: I LOVE THIS SERIES. Imagine a cool little spy movie series with teenagers saving the world and whatever.
• The Starbound Trilogy: OKAY SO THIS IS ACTUALLY MY FAVORITE SERIES. There would be all these pretty space scenes and space wars and the whispers can have little overlays or something and imagine star wars but different.
• Illuminae: I’d rather have Starbound Trilogy tbh but Illuminae would be pretty cool too for the same reason.

Okay, to end this mess of a post I’m going to list a couple movie adaptations I am excited for. Forgive me if I forget a couple/ I don’t know of a ton and maybe this post was a little bit of a way to ask people to tell me what movie adaptations are coming out or in the works. 

• Love, Simon
• A Wrinkle in Time
• The Hate U Give
• Fantastic Beast Pt. 2 (technically not a book I GUESS but its HP)

And that’s the end! Sorry this was just a jumble of thoughts about movie adaptations.

What are pros of movie adaptations? What are cons? What are some books you want to be made into movies? What are some movie adaptations that are good? What are ones that you dislike? What upcoming ones are you excited for?