The book Miss. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a disgrace to writing. Even though the plot is worthy of gold, the actual writing in the book is extremely unsatisfying. The plot is about a teenage boy named Jake, who after a tragic incident, travels to Wales to discover more about his grandfather's peculiar past. During his time there, Jake discovers what it means to be a leader and his own person. The movie's special effects were unearthly. Vivid colors and an exquisite set designed by Tim Burton set the authentic mood of magic. Spine chilling monsters clung to your mind, coloring in the pages of a marvelous picture, acted by Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, and Ella Purnell. Throughout the movie, the characters create an unbreakable friendship that lasted despite the danger they had to face. We’ve all watched movies that have strayed drastically from the plot of the book. Miss. Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children is no different. Despite how good the movie is, if you've read the book you can’t help but get distracted with the polar opposite from the movie compared to the book. For example, the climax setting takes place in a haunted house very different from the book which takes place in the ocean. Despite the brilliant pot written by Ransom Riggs, the book is a big disappointment. Along with underdeveloped characters, the writing in the book is as bland as runny oatmeal. With no fluency whatsoever, the book runs all over the place without a set course. The movie added color to the black and white pages of the book, adding the small but necessary details that make the movie worthwhile. There is no point in reading the book if the movie is 50 times better. However many complaints there were from the audience about the drastic plot differences, you’ll find yourself enjoying the movie’s plot more than you would with the book. With just the right amount of romance, the movie captivates it watchers in a delightful experience. Directed by the renowned Tim Burton, this movie brings to life a new world where anything is possible.
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy started out as a radio series, turned into a book, and was then adapted into a movie. Every time it seemed to get worse. A lonely earthman named Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is having a very, very bad day. His house is being bulldozed, and he finds out that his best friend Ford Perfect (Mos Def) is an alien. The Earth is about to be destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Together they embark on an action filled journey in which they travel the galaxy in search of a lost planet with the president of the universe, a girl named Trillian, and an insanely depressed robot. During this journey, Arthur finds out that everything that he will ever need to know is in a little tablet called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I absolutely loved the book, it’s as if Douglas Adams himself was personally guiding me through his whimsical world. One reason that I loved the book so much was the fact that he went to great lengths to explain how all the crazy futuristic tech works, such as the babel fish, or how the improbability drive works. He always goes into detail, but never too much so that it makes it boring. Prior to this, I had never even heard of Douglas Adams, let alone read one of his book’s, so I was pleasantly surprised when I read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. One thing that was unsatisfactory about the book vs. the movie is that the movie completely strays off from the book’s plot. The director (Garth Jennings) most likely did this to extend the length of the movie, but I still don’t like what he did. Basically, in the book, they went directly to look for the lost planet, but in the movie, they made a pit stop at a few different planets. This completely changed the character’s motives as well as the plot. Something that I did like about the movie was the special effects. Although they weren’t amazing, one has to keep in mind the fact that the movie was made in 2005. They really made the movie pop out, and made me somewhat believe that some of the things in the movie could actually exist . Although they did not show some things that I was looking forward to seeing, like Arthur as a penguin, overall I liked the special effects liked the special effects. Another thing that I did not like about the book vs. the movie is how the movie portrayed Zaphod Beeblebrox. In the book, he was incredibly clever and intelligent, although he sometimes made bad decisions. But in the movie they made him look like a complete idiot who was incapable of doing anything. I also don’t like how they made him look. Zaphod is an alien who looks like a human, except that he has 3 arms and 2 heads. The way that they showed this was ridiculous! He has his second head hidden under his first head, and could make it appear whenever he wanted? And his third arm only appeared once in the whole movie, and just materialized out of his stomach. When I was reading the book, I imagined him having 2 heads going in different directions, and 1 arm on one side of his body, and 2 arms on the other side. I was very disappointed by what they did to him. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a great book, but the movie wasn’t so great. The changes that were made to the plot made it very hard to focus on the movie because all you could think about throughout it was, “Hey, that didn’t happen in the book”. Although one could argue that the changes that they made were good, I’m sure most people would disagree. The changes to the plot weren’t the only thing that ruined it. The way that they changed some of the characters made the movie even worse; the ones that I hated the most were Zaphod and the Vogons. All in all, the book was much better than the movie, and I don’t recommend anyone to watch the movie if they have already read the book. If you plan on watching or reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- and you definitely should- be prepared to lose at least half a gallon of water weight. This tale is a sad one. It tells of the beautifully depressing love between thyroid cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley), and osteosarcoma survivor Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort). The two meet at a cancer support group, and from the beginning they are a perfect match. They slowly fall in love, despite the inevitable oblivion that awaits. The movie and the book were very different. In the book, the characters felt a lot more distant because I was imagining the story and not watching it happen. But with the movie, I felt a strong connection with both because I could see their lives play out. The movie really brought both characters to life. But I did feel like the characters in the movie and the book were very contrasting from each other. In the book, Hazel had a kind of edge to her that the movie took away, which I didn’t really like. Hazel’s character felt very different to me. While I still loved the Hazel in the movie, the Hazel in the book was a little more interesting. Another thing that I didn’t really like about the movie was that they took away a lot of important characters. Caroline Mathers, Gus’s ex girlfriend, and Kathryn, Hazel’s Best friend in the book, and many others were not in the movie. This kind of made it harder to get to know the main characters. Caroline was a huge part of Gus’s past, and was a big moment in the book where Hazel really got to know Gus. And Kathryn was one of Hazel’s best friends in the book, and really taught Hazel a lot. Without these characters, the story is a bit more bland. I really loved the book and the movie. Both John Green and Josh Boone have mastered the art of the tragic love story, and if you ever need to remember how grateful you are and how good you have it, this story is one to experience. The Fault in Our Stars really taught me a lot about love, life, and being happy- and I would recommend this to anyone and everyone. Have you ever hated a movie so much that the sight of the end credits feels like a mountain taken off of your shoulders? That's how watching The Fifth Wave felt. I am going to try to make this review as unbiased as possible, but watching The Fifth Wave after you read the book is like eating McDonalds after a 500 dollar steakhouse meal. The movie begins with our main character Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz) running through the woods, breathing heavily, she reaches the edge of the woods where she sees a gas station, which she quickly loots. She hears a man calling and walks into the back to find a wounded homeless man, who she quickly shoots, setting the tone of the movie, kill or be killed. Flashback to a 20 minute section explaining the five waves: A global power outage, a huge earthquake followed by tsunamis, a modified Ebola virus transmitted by birds, and implanting aliens inside human hosts, the fifth of these waves is unknown. While it works beautifully in the book, director J Blakeson fails to make a character narration inside of a movie work, leaving watchers with a dull, cheesy 20 minutes about the death of 7 billion people. Cassie and her family travel to a refugee camp, and within a couple of days, rescue magically comes. Cassie and her brother Sammy (Zackary Arthur) are separated in a mix up with a transport bus. With her parents separated from her as well as Sammy, she sets out to find her brother. On the way, she stumbles across Evan Walker, a farm boy with a mysterious past, he joins her on her journey. They later find an old high school friend of Cassie’s who plays a pretty major part in one part of the multi-perspective book. The three realize that they have the same goal, reunite with Sammy. The next 20 minutes are chaos, people die, things explode, it's basically exactly what you would expect after the suspense of the first hour and a half. The movie pretty much ends there, no last goodbye, or inspirational sentence, just a black screen. Then we get to the good part; the end credits, a pretty display of a bunch of random shapes being mirrored with Sia playing in the background, a highlight of the movie. This movie leaves you unsettled, like that feeling you get when you are forgetting something important. Aside from the interesting five waves concept, this movie is just your typical apocalyptic, everybody dies but our main characters somehow dodge the bullet, waste of 2 hours film. Out of all the things wrong with the movie, there is one thing that irritates me more than anything else, the movie takes two crucial characters and combines them into one. In the book, Dr. Pam is a sweet, welcoming person whose character had even me fooled, and Sergeant Resnik is a tough, undermining drill sergeant. In the movie, the two are combined to create a girl called Resnik who acts in the role of a fierce doctor, but is missing the harshness factor that shapes his/her character. Another issue with this movie is that it struggles to form strong characters, If I had watched solely the movie, I wouldn't be able to tell you much more than Cassie is a 16 year old girl with blonde hair and a seemingly perfect life. The book develops all of the key characters to the point where you know them in and out, you could predict their every move, the movie fails to please. I have watched many teen novel movies, Divergent, The Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, and so on. While none of the movies come close to the books, they still are good movies, the characters and are built up almost as much as they can be described in a movie, unlike The Fifth Wave on the other hand, does nothing to give you a sense of development. Another one of my major gripes with this movie is how little detail they go into with the budding relationship between Cassie and Evan, as well as with Cassie’s doubts, both crucial parts of the book. The last major problem that I want to cover is how little the movie actually indulges in major areas of the plot. A couple of days since watching the movie, I honestly have no clue how they managed to produce a two hour movie with such little detail. Rick Yancey depicts an amazing idea for how an alien invasion could play out, but the movie puts it to shame. Again, if I had not read the book, I would have very little information about the complexity of the invasion, and how the aliens were playing the humans like lab rats. In the movie, there are 30 minute stretches with no indication that the world is ending. I was extremely disappointed in J Blakesons interpretation of The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey. I have seen good movies, and I have seen bad movies. I have seen movies that stretched the limit of what can be depicted in only 2 dimensions, and I have seen movies that I couldn't be paid to watch again. This movie easily takes the title for the worst I have ever seen. Some of my critiques of this book are derived from my burning passion of hatred towards all movies made from a book, but I also know that even if I hadn't read the book, I would still have that disgusting feeling that something is missing. I do not think that a movie should have ever been made for this book seeing as how complex this piece of literature is, but of course, it isn't my decision and I did come out the experience with a great book under my wing and a great test subject of a movie to tear apart bit by bit. By: Finn F.
Age Recommendation: 13&up Prepare to be lost in time. Dan Brown’s newest novel mixes intellectual captivation with heart racing thriller, as lovable Robert Langdon journies through layers of codes and puzzles from different times and cultures. The book follows the pre-established character Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist (professor of symbols and codes throughout the ages), through the secrets of Washington DC. When his old friend Peter is taken hostage by an unknown villain, Langdon is forced into a hunt for a Masonic treasure. While being pursued by dogged CIA director Inuo Sato, Langdon unravels layers of symbols and codes to uncover a lost treasure and rescue Peter.
The Lost Symbol is a finely written book, as Brown manages to perfectly explain the intricacy of ancient and unknown puzzles and codes, making the reader understand the genuine difficulty of them, while making the story feel realistic and entrancing. The plot was amazing, as it mixed CIA action and suspense, with esoteric mysticism surrounding the Freemasons. My only criticisms are that there were a great number of contrasting characters that added depth to the story, but made it difficult to follow different motivations and personalities. I found myself flipping back to earlier pages in order to place the rank, allegiance, or organization of some lesser characters. This weakness though, was also a strength, as Brown added a couple “throwaway” characters that were given motivation and personality for realism, but were only part of two or three pages. This helped “fill” the story, and made it interesting to read as you could understand even the most trivial of characters. Another thing, however, is that Brown only kept one character, Langdon, from the last three books in the series which made it necessary to add in an entirely new cast, as well as rebuild connections and relations between the characters. Langdon often had to re-establish his profession, knowledge, and expertise, which slowed down the book and made it slightly repetitive when compared to its prequels. Conclusively, it is a fantastic book that is worthwhile to read. The subject matter of the book (Ancient organizations, hidden puzzles and codes, and religion) is interesting, and easy to navigate thanks to Brown's well developed characters and storyline. Note: This book contains some adult content related to drug use, and may not be appropriate for younger readers. In the summer of 1992 Chris J. McCandless walked into to the Alaskan wilderness only to never come out. Into the Wild is the thrilling true story of Chris J. McCandless’s long struggle to fulfil his craving for adventure.
This story, written by Jon Krakauer, is about adventure, resistance, exploration, and survival. McCandless pushes his limits as he travels across America living on what little money he has and the will to survive. Trying to recover from some childhood issues he struggles to escape from the society he hates so much. Never staying in a place to long McCandless ultimate goal is to survive in Alaska. Along his journey he makes some unexpected relationships that influence him along the way. Into the Wild uses many descriptive, vivid details to create a clear image of the setting and characters. Jon Krakauer connects his readers to the characters by making their personalities lovable and enjoyable. Krakauer also adds many exhilarating back stories of different characters, in different times, to let us have an easier understanding of McCandless’s actions and his way of thinking. Straight from the beginning Into The Wild captures the reader's attention with a wonderful hook. One can’t put the book down until they finish this unbelievable and satisfying story. Even though Into The Wild was an overall astonishing book there were some problems with it. The introduction of the book tells us the end of the story, and eventually ruins the plot. Through McCandless’s journey Jon Krakauer interrupts the story multiple times with almost too many off topic stories. This drags out some parts and slows down the story. It also makes some parts more repetitive and unexciting. With not too many maps and pictures of McCandless, chunks of the book become confusing and misleading. McCandless went into the wilderness to experience the ultimate adventure and find what he was searching for. He found this in nature and his heart. What he realized was that these feelings were best shared with someone. This book outlines McCandless’s long journey to find himself. Jon Krakauer brings all of McCandless traits to life in Into The Wild. With clear and descriptive details one feels like they are talking the journey with McCandless. This book is a MUST READ. Recommended for ; 7th and up, some mature content Dragons make everything harder. On their scaly hides, they bring magic, evil kings, and many a battle. But if you know how to handle them, like author Christopher Paolini, then they open up a world of possibilities for amazing books and adventures. The Inheritance series, with it’s various well developed characters and plot twists, will captivate you from page 1.
The plot in the Inheritance series starts to get going when Eragon, a poor farm boy living with his uncle and cousin discovers a dragon egg in the forest. But when Galbatorix, (the broken king of the country Alagaesia)who is trying to kill free dragons and take their power for himself finds out, Eragon must leave his small town for his safety and for the safety of the others in his village. He and Saphira, his newly hatched dragon, set of on an adventure across the world of Alagaesia, meeting the Dwarves, the Varden, the Urgals and the Elves, who all help to shape him and Saphira into the dragon and rider he needs to be in order to have a chance at defeating Galbatorix. What really makes this series amazing is the amount of deep thinking that Christopher Paolini so clearly puts into the characters, plot, writing, and the whole world of Alagaesia in general. There are so many amazing complex characters. One example is Murtagh, the escaped son of one of Galbatorix’s closest accomplices, Morzan, and kind of like the Severus Snape of this series. Murtagh hates Galbatorix, but because of his patronage, and other plot twists as the books progress, we can’t be sure who he’ll fight for. Another great complex character is Brom, Eragon’s initial guide through the world of magic and dragons. He is later revealed to be much more to the world and Eragon than just the village storyteller. However, Galbatorix is surprisingly undeveloped all the way til the very end, and for much of the books, you just have to accept his evilness without question. The dragons are really interesting and well thought out. They speak with their minds, and they sound much more refined than the other races, even the elves. There are many scenes where the dragon is the supreme power: everyone listens to them, and they often have the wisest and best ideas. Saphira (Eragon’s Dragon) always refers to Eragon as “little one”, and often offers him advice, even though she is years younger. The romance in this book is all well developed, with secrecy, betrayal, and rejection all at it’s heart, and yet it fits with the medieval feel of the rest of the book. There are three separate romances in the series, two that go all the way through, and one at the very end. Eragon and Arya’s seemed very realistic, if a little slow, but Roran (Eragon’s cousin) and Katrina’s was unbelievably fast. They both took many twists and turns, most of which were really surprising. In fact, romance was one of things that seemed to stay all relatively the same all the way through, and helped to connect the different parts of the story to each other. On the other side of the sweetness scale, the battles were quite long, boring, and gory. One scene goes into disgusting detail of Roran climbing a pile of bodies as he slays a total of 193 enemy soldiers afterwards remarking “seven more and it would have been an even two hundred.” However, the battles redeem themselves somewhat when after the battles many main characters express their dislike of battle and taking other lives. The dragon battles were really different, as they were aerial, and did not involve weapons at all. It was surprising how little the riders could do while the dragons were battling, but I guess it just adds to the idea that dragons are better at everything than anyone else. The ancient language, a language of “true names” and power, and the language that magic is performed in, was very impressive. Paolini really thought it out and the complexities were explained in a way that was easy to understand, yet some questions were left unanswered. This was something that held true throughout the series-relatively easy to understand, yet still mysterious and with a really nice tone. There are also some really neat scenes that seemed to make a point about real life, the most obvious being Eragon and Saphira’s trip to Vroengard, which was transformed into a wasteland by magic. It is no longer habitable by humans; creepy trees, six foot tall snails and other mutant creatures have taken over the landscape. Another connection to real life was Nasuada, the leader of the varden in some books, who happened to be black, when everyone else except her father was white. Others in the books wonder if her skin is dyed, because nobody in this medieval age had ever seen anyone like her. The neat thing was that even in their confusion, they held no prejudice against Nasuada for her skin color. And as it turns out, she was the greatest leader the varden could have asked for. Another pleasantly surprising thing was the amount of female power in the later books. The leader of the Varden was female, the leader of the elves, and a best friend (and sometimes more) of Ergons all the way through the series is a very strong female. And, of course, Saphira was female, in fact the last female of her kind, which helped to give depth to her character. Overall, this was a great read. The series was captivating: from the moment Eragon found his dragon egg, to the final battle. The characters are well developed and complex, with real thoughts and emotions. The plot was like a roller coaster - lots of ups and downs, but it all went together and made sense through the various twists and turns. This is a series that really leaves you wanting more. This series is great for anyone who’s even remotely into fantasy, because it is such a great read that anyone can enjoy it! I would recommend this series for middle school and above aged kids. I read The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisenberger in hopes of reading a funny and witty fashion novel. After all, the movie was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen., Boy, how I was wrong. The Devil Wears Prada is about a young girl straight out of college Andreah Sachs (Anne Hathaway) who moves to New York with her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier) to become a journalist for The Newyorker only to get a job as an assistant at a fashion magazine with a tough boss Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) and a sarcastic co-worker/mentor Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt).
Although the book was a disappointment there were moments that something funny was said by character when the book was a little slow. And the book had amazing figurative language and descriptive detail of places, Food, People etc. Now for the weaknesses. The beginning of the book was the most confusing part of a book I’ve ever read in my entire life. It starts during the mid-end of the book and then suddenly goes into her past life as a college student and interviewing for the job. Leaving the reader confused and not knowing who, where, or what we're talking about. And the main character Andreah Sachs is unlikeable. She has a great job that pays well close friends and family and a supportive boyfriend, but still finds a way to complain about work, leave friends, and screw over co-workers. And finally the scenes from the movie that made the movie great instead of good were nonexistent in the novel just giving me another reason to be disappointed. Author Lauren Weisenberger make a great attempt at the funny and witty fashion novel that I was hoping for But overall fails with boring writing and unlikeable. I am confused but grateful that this awful novel was made into a great movie. Mark Watney from The Martian (played by Matt Damon) written by Andy Weir is absolutely indestructible in the movie and book. Even with indestructible-ness on his side, you’ll be rooting for him all the way to the end. In both movie and book, his knowledge will make you marvel and his black humor will make you laugh. Captivated to the end, this is a must-see-and-read. There is a crew from NASA on the Red Planet, Mars. Crazy dust storms could happen anytime and anywhere. The crew (Johanssen, Beck, Vogel, Martinez, Lewis, and Watney) are extremely careful. When a large scale storm comes their way they are forced abort their mission and leave Mars. Unfortunately, Watney was left behind because they thought him dead. Watney, wasn’t dead; he was alive on an uninhabitable planet with no one else there to help. Until Watney is able to contact NASA or NASA contact him, he is stranded and must figure out how to survive. Overall, the movie version of The Martian was fairly similar to the book. Both the movie and book kept the “documentary format.’’ They also both kept the black humour of Mark Watney that will make you laugh even when it feels like you shouldn’t. One great example of Watney’s black humour is when he says that he’ll die; not because he’s stranded on Mars but because he ends up only having disco music for all listening options. Another great example is when he chooses to cuss (through a computer) on Live National TV. A difference between the movie and book is that the movie added some action that wasn’t in the book. For example, when Watney is flying through space, there is a point in both movie and book when the chances of him never being caught by someone and dying are high. In the movie, that part is much more dramatic and heart pounding compared to the book because the solution ideas are different. Although the movie did add some details, it left out some important aspects of the book. In the book, Watney is caught in a dust storm once again. Like last time, he wasn’t expecting it. So, in order to survive he had to figure out how to get out of the dust storm (which was massive). In the movie, that large-crisis moment was left out. It could’ve added much more detail and suspense. Also, the movie, understandably, left out some scientific facts. But, the book was based off of a scientist left on Mars so it was a little disappointing. Luckily, the movie did add some aspects that the book didn’t have. One of which was showing emotion. Because the book was written in almost diary form (Watney and other astronauts recorded their days in video format), it was hard to convey emotions. Even at NASA, it was harder to convey emotion because those parts were written in third person. However Andy Weir did have parts where people put their hands in the air and cheered. Something else that the movie added that the book didn’t/couldn’t have was lots of visuals. One example that was implied in the book but not shown, was when Watney found a potato sprout that could lead to saving his life. In the movie, they could show him take a second look and see the green speck in the sea of brown. That did add some effect. In conclusion, both movie and book pull out what makes us human. The fact that all of us will do our best to help someone if we can, even if we’ve never met them. It also includes disregarding authority and advice if it means we can save someone. Since the book is easy to relate to in the sense that if given the chance or situation, no matter what, everyday people like you would help even if the person you’re helping is completely new, - it’s inspiring. In fact, you will be rooting for Mark Watney while reading/watching the movie. Pressing the pause button or slipping the bookmark in and closing the book will be impossible because it is so heart racing. Although some parts from the book will be missed in the movie, this is a 100% recommendation to anyone; sci fi fan or not. Age Recommendation-12&up By: Luna Reid
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