The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Movie Review

Summary:

Suddenly able to see demons and  Shadowhunters, who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, Clary Fray is drawn to them into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary is attacked by a demon.

Review:
    
      Heading into the movie I had pretty high expectations because the trailers were so well done and fantastic, coming out I was a little bummed but it was still a great movie. I would rate the movie a B.
      The sets that were chosen for the movie where phenomenal! The green house was gorgeous, the Hotel Dumort was frightening, the Institute was breath-taking, the City of Bones was creepy, and the Fray's home was cozy. 
      Most of the characters were portrayed well in my opinion, the only ones I am not completely happy with were Jace and Valentine. Jace had girl-hair which I did not approve of, and he looked anorexic, I am concerned for his health. Valentine, I do not really have anything good to say about him. On the other hand, I loved the casting for Simon and Isabelle, they were perfect. The only other complaint I had with the cast, in general, was that some of them had some sort of accent, it would not necessarily have been a problem for me but, Isabelle had an accent while Alec did not, and they are brother and sister, so that was odd.
      I was thrilled that some of the lines were taken directly from the book, it made it feel more personal.
      Some scenes seemed stretched out longer than they should have, while others were in slow motion, those got on my nerves a bit.
      The end of the movie was probably the most confusing and the most different from the book. First off, the whole battle took place in the Institute while in the book it took place in Renwick. In the book the enemies in the battle were Valentine and the forsaken, not Valentine and demons. I still want to know how he raised demons in the Institute since it is  hollowed ground. Also, Jace and Valentine were constantly battling in the movie, while in the book Jace pretty much trusted Valentine the entire time and did not try to kill him. Something that really confused me was why it started snowing after Jace and Clary broke the portal, which should not have been in the Institute in the first place. Since the portal was inside, why was it snowing? But the most confusing part of all is, does Clary really have the Mortal Cup or not because, in the book Valentine ends up leaving through the portal with the Mortal Cup, while in the movie I think Clary still has it. So, if Clary has the Mortal Cup then what is going to happen in City of Ashes movie?
     Quite a few things were spoiled for the next movie, for example, Simon starting to turn into a vampire, Clary with her ability to create new runes, and Valentine experimenting on himself.
      I wish they would have gone into more detail explaining runes, because to the non reader I am pretty sure they still think they are some random tattoo that may or may not have a purpose.
      One thing I did love though was the relationship development with Isabelle and Simon, and Magnus and Alec. Both future couples were adorable!
     It was nice that the screenwriters tried to fit most of the scenes from the book into the movie. It shocked me just how much they fit into the film from the book which is about 480 pages. Pretty much all of the scenes were necessary, some of them could have been cut a little shorter but it still worked out.
      Overall, the movie was pretty good, and I am hoping to see it again! This time I am hoping to keep a closer eye out for Cassandra Clare because she is in Magnus' party scene but I did not see her, did any of you happen to see her? If any of you have seen the movie what did you guys think?
~Casey