Also known as: What the hell did Hollywood do to my precious book??
Seriously, I was soooo excited to be watching this movie last night, because I'd read the book last year and loved it and wanted to share this experience with my boyfriend. And let's face it, I'm not gonna be able to make him read a 1000+ page novel. So the movie it is!
But what the hell did they do to my precious book?? I mean, I get that not all the intricate plotpoints could make it into the movie, but really? It seemed like that person who wrote the screenplay never even read the book! It was very, very, VERY loosely based on the book. So loosely that they changed almost everything of importance. Well, except for the fact the main character is still Edmond Dantes and he got thrown into Chateau d'If for a loooong time.
That's about it.
I was so annoyed! I think I could have otherwise enjoyed this movie, but I KNEW that these things weren't supposed to happen like this! I mean, they even changed the fact that Edmond's father died of poverty into him committing suicide. And if I remember correctly Mercedes waited at least two years for him instead of one month. GAH!
So, I'm not so pleased with this movie-adaptation, they butchered a book I love!
I did think it was cool that the guy who plays Albert looks exactly like one of the covers for the book:
Anyway, did any of you guys read the book and watch the movie? I can just imagine someone having to read this for class and being short on time and just watching the movie instead (I know a lot of people who used to do this in high school). And then completely FAILING the test because it's nothing like the original book.
I did read the book a long time ago, but I still kind of liked the movie.
ReplyDeleteThough I've seen better adaptations of it - far better.
But I think that if the book had been fresher in my mind, I wouldn't have liked the movie half as much.
I haven't seen this, but it seems to be the norm. unfortunately. Although not a classic, I was disappointed in Under the Tuscan Sun that had very little to do with the book. I think it's best to either read the book or watch the movie and not do both.
ReplyDeleteAnn
I loved the "Count of Monte Cristo" by Dumas and was also looking forward to seeing the movie. It had a great cast, but for some reason that is beyond my comprehension, movie adaptations for Dumas's books are all horrible! All of his books are plot driven, which seems like a fast transition into a screenplay. There's a lot that they changed in the movie, but I kinda sorta thought it made semi-sense. If I hadn't read the book before, I would have loved the movie more.
ReplyDelete