It's difficult to watch someone else's visual interpretation of a book, but I think this one was okay. I laughed, I cried...I thought about it a lot. I was happy that the previews had been somewhat misleading, but I really haven't made up my mind about whether I liked them or not. What I do know is that the end reminded me of Big Fish, where all the imaginary characters came to say goodbye.
I understand that the movie was modernized, but I feel like I got more out of the movie because I had read the book. I recognized several lines straight from the text, which was great. However, without Jess's inner monologue, there wasn't much of an explanation for Miss Edmonds (even though I love Zooey Deschanel and think she did a fantastic job). I was also a little put off by the plot being twisted around...no Christmas, no Easter sunday, just a birthday and random free dog. And did Leslie's character look like a young Keira Knightley to anyone else? That's all I kept seeing. As for Jess...I think he was great. He wasn't exactly what I imagined, but he definitely held his own. Those poor kids who saw the movie without reading the book...I wonder what they thought.
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Did you hear the kid in the audience gasp when they told Jess that Leslie was dead? I was so upset by that- thinking to myself that this child hadn't read the book and the parent didn't either. I couldn't help but thinking that neither one of them knew about what was going to happen and it was, obviously, shocking. In children's movies today, there isn't much death, at least not realistic death. So to have a child sit in a movie they predict will be completely light-hearted and then get walloped with Leslie's death... my hear breaks for that child.
Yes! I totally thought the girl who played Jess looked like Kiera Knightley!! Zooey D. was also fabulous, with just a look at the end, you could see her wistful memories of Leslie. Your connection to Big Fish is powerful, too. What a great commentary you have!
I was thinking the same thing about Miss Edmunds. There seemed to be a lot of focus in the book about Jess' feelings for his teacher. In the movie, you can tell he "likes" her, but it really wasn't focused on in the movie. I also agree with you about seeing a movie from someone else's perception. My perception of the story was very different from what I viewed. I like using my own imagination. Then, I don't mind seeing someone else's perception, but I want to create my own opinions first.
I think you loose a lot when you don't read the book before seeing it portrayed in a movie. The narrator adds so much to the storyline. Stories that are intended for movies usually are better at getting what they need across. However, stories that are intended as books, that are turned into movies, tend to loose a lot.
I agree that although we as readers of the novel knew the tragedy would come, we also know that unfortunately many children will go to this movie based purely on the movie trailer without ever reading the novel prior to going. There has to be more than one child (and parent) who went to the movie thinking it was going to be an animated, fantasy adventure full of whimsy and fun and did not expect it to be primarily realistic in the story line. I enjoyed the movie as a movie, with the mindset that books are rarely captured in the same way in a movie format.
I also noted and did not like the way they changed the plot to exclude easter and christmas. I thought that it was much more powerful when the puppy was a christmas gift.
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