Quick Reviews of Recent Book to Movie Adaptations

     Recently, I have been on hiatus and I received a couple requests for a rating on recent book to movie adaptations. So, I figured I might as well do a post about them because lately I have not had time to get any reading done. As a result, I have not done any book reviews in this new year, 2014. Anyways, here are some of last years and the beginning of this years book to movie adaptations and a couple of my thoughts on them.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

     Catching Fire is based off of the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins. I actually have a movie review for this, but I never published it though. I am not really sure if I ever will publish it so here are my thoughts. This and The Book Thief (listed below) are two of my all time favorite book to movie adaptations. Catching Fire was super close in adaptation with the book, which was amazing because movie adaptations are rarely that close to the book. The acting was great and I am excited for Mockingjay Part 1 coming out this fall in theaters but the beginning of Mockingjay (the book) was somewhat slow so, I hope they will change that in the next movie. 

The Book Thief

     The Book Thief based on the novel of the same name by Markus Zusak (my review on the novel can be seen here: http://www.littleredsreviews.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-book-thief-by-markus-zusak.html). If you have read my review before or happen to know me well, The Book Thief is my favorite novel of all time. I just reread the book for my English class because we are going over the Holocaust. So, before I reread the book I thought the adaptation was amazing, but when I reread it, I noticed it was not as close to the book as I first thought. But, that still does not change my mind about the movie. It may not be as spot on as I thought but, it was still a fantastic movie. The actors did an amazing job and the transformation of Liesel getting older throughout the movie was awesome. I loved that Death still had a part in the movie and narrated parts of it. Since the release of the film, I now own the DVD and have watched it 3 times and just like every time I reread the book, the ending makes me cry. Which shows even more that the actors captured their roles perfectly. The location for filming blows me away with how beautiful it is and I loved that all the characters had realistic German accents. The Book Thief's movie is probably the best movie I have ever watched, just like the book, and not in the sense of book to movie adaptation wise but of how inspiring and how amazing the story is. 

Vampire Academy

     Vampire Academy is based off the novel with the same name by Richelle Mead. Oh, Vampire Academy. The movie was really good, I was shocked how close it was to the book. The movie and book had its differences but they were decently close. I really was not sure how the movie would be after the commercials for it. The commercials for it made it seem like a teeny bopper movie, when it really was not. My parents, who really did not want to see it, thought it was great. Had they changed their commercials and marketing style I think they would have captured a larger audience and made enough money to make a Frostbite movie. When my parents and I went to see it opening weekend, we were the only ones in the theater to see Vampire Academy. Overall, the casting was almost spot on, it was a funny, action-packed movie that could have done better in the box office if it had a different marketing strategy. I do wish they would have added Eddie in the movie, I wonder why they excluded him from the movie?

Divergent

     Divergent is based off of the novel of the same name by Veronica Roth. If I had to chose my least anticipated book to movie adaptation of 2014, I would have chosen Divergent. The movie itself looked good but the actors did not appeal to me in the least. But, once I got into the theater and watched it, it was not so bad. Yeah, it had its flaws like all other book to movie adaptations, but I do not understand all the hate over it in the fandom. I understand if people still do not like the casting, I am not quite over it yet myself, but the movie was actually good. It had some comedy, action, etc. just like the book. Like I said, the disagreement with the casting choices and the exclusion of some of the beloved characters from the book like, Uriah, Lynn, etc. is understandable (why were their names on the Initiate Board if they were not in the movie, right?). But, I am curious of all the hate for the movie. We are actually getting Insurgent and Allegiant, we usually never get sequels to book to movie adaptations! If you guys are one of the Divergent haters what do you not like? It was not my favorite book to movie adaptation but it was still a good movie to me.

     Well, those were quick reviews of late 2013 and early 2014 book to movie adaptations. Were any of your thoughts close to mine or what did you think of those book to movie adaptations? Also, I can't wait for The Fault In Our Stars and If I Stay book to movie adaptations which will be out this summer! Are you excited, too?

~Casey