Books vs. Movies, Take II

I saw the movie Matilda when it was in theaters when I was a kid. I loved it. It was cute and funny. I hadn't realized it was a book until many years later. I finally read the book earlier this month, and I loved it. The writing style was different than what I'm used to, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.


After finishing the book, I pulled out the movie. I found it for $5 a year or so ago, but wanted to read the book before watching the movie again. I had forgotten almost all of it. I didn't love the movie as much this time around. It was still silly, but it was also sad. I didn't remember being sad watching it when I was little-ish. I recommend the book, definitely, and the movie if you have the time. It's cute and fun for the kids.

I posted about this book a few days ago. After having read the book and watching the movie, I'm not sure which I liked more. Both were good. But I think the visuals in the movie were so great that it makes it more fun. While the book takes readers to Terabithia, there really aren't any descriptions of what the place looks like or what the kids see in their imagination.

The book was so much better than the movie, but if you have the time, go see it. I enjoyed it immensly. Lately, I've been teaching John (8) about myth and folklore. So he was thrilled when the creatures came on the screen, and he knew what they were. The visuals were stunning. It amazes me what they can do with CGI. Five years ago it amazed me, but they seem to continually find ways to make it better and more realistic.

There were, of course, differences between the book a movie. The movie demonized Hades, which I was not a fan of. Nor was I a fan of the underworld scene. I think parts of the underworld look that way, but I wish they had shown some of the good parts, too. I loved the look of Hades, all clad in leather. Persephone was great. Why she was in the underworld during summer, I have no clue? For some reason that inconsistency annoyed me most of all. But I did love her in the scene.

The highlight for me was the Medusa scene. The movie was PG, and yet this was the creepiest thing I had seen in any movie for years. Uma Therman was great in that role. Logan Lerman did a great job as Percy. He is such a cutie, and if I were 13 years younger, I'd have a crush. The guy who played Poseidon (Kevin McKidd from Grey's) was amazingly HOT, so I can settle for him. I almost said "yumm" outloud during the opening scene.