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2018 Book to Film Adaptations: Older Book Edition

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Recently, I was sitting in the theater watching the trailer for what looked to be a silly, but potentially fun, children’s movie starring Cate Blanchett and Jack Black (wherein Jack Black basically plays himself, it seems). As the trailer went on, a little niggling idea started to press against my mind – I thought I recognized the storyline. Could this movie possibly be what I thought it was? As realization hit, I excitedly turned to my seat companion and whispered the name of the film just as the screen itself announced it: The House With a Clock in Its Walls.

First published in 1973, The House With a Clock in Its Walls is a gothic horror novel by John Bellairs for children. It features Lewis Barnavelt, a ten year old boy whose parents tragically die in a car accident, forcing him to move in with his eccentric uncle. His uncle turns out to be a wizard, and their neighbor is a witch, and Lewis is caught up in a supernatural mystery that was complete catnip for tween me. And here in 2018, it’s been made into a movie.

I first discovered the book in the 90s, and after falling in love with it, I went on to learn that there were many more where it came from. Bellairs wrote two sequels, and after he died in 1991, Brad Strickland took over, writing nine more books about Lewis Barnavelt based on Bellairs’ outlines and, eventually, his own ideas. And then there were the Johnny Dixon books, which Bellairs first started publishing in the 80s and which Strickland also took over once he died. They, too, were deliciously scary – but not too scary – and featured a bit of the supernatural combined with a mystery perfectly suited to middle graders. My memory is that I read every single book John Bellairs or Brad Strickland wrote within a matter of months.

Even in the 90s, most of these books were already “old” (though many sequels were newly published that decade). Still, I never perceived the Lewis Barnavelt books as dated when I first read them, though it’s certainly possible my adult sensibilities would pick up on what my child ones couldn’t. I think kids today would enjoy them a lot, too, provided we get nice updated covers (and I’m not counting the movie tie-in edition). It doesn’t look like any of the sequels are currently in print. The Johnny Dixon books were reprinted in 2014 and look fairly modern, though not terribly exciting.

I hadn’t thought about these books in years, but when I saw the trailer, all my happy memories of them rushed back, and I remembered just how much I enjoyed them. It got me thinking: What other books that previous generations read as kids or teens are only now being adapted for the big screen? I went on a quest and found several that I hadn’t known about. All of the movies on the list have premiered or are currently scheduled to premiere in 2018 and are based on books at least ten years old.

Middle Grade

The House With a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs (1973)

Book: “Orphaned Lewis Barnavelt comes to live with his Uncle Jonathan and quickly learns that both his uncle and his next-door neighbor are witches on a quest to discover the terrifying clock ticking within the walls of Jonathan’s house. Can the three of them save the world from certain destruction?” (Goodreads)

Movie: “A young orphan named Lewis Barnavelt aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world” (IMDb). Stars Jack Black as Jonathan Barnavelt, Cate Blanchett as Mrs. Zimmerman, and Owen Vaccaro as Lewis Barnavelt. Also stars Renee Elise Goldsberry and Kyle MacLachlan.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)

Book: “It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. ‘Wild nights are my glory,’ the unearthly stranger told them. ‘I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.’ Meg’s father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?” (Goodreads)

Movie: “Following the discovery of a new form of space travel as well as Meg’s father’s disappearance, she, her brother, and her friend must join three magical beings – Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which – to travel across the universe to rescue him from a terrible evil” (IMDb). Stars Storm Reid as Meg, and Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Who.

The War With Grandpa by Robert Kimmel Smith (1984)

Book: “Peter is thrilled that Grandpa is coming to live with his family. That is, until Grandpa moves right into Peter’s room, forcing him upstairs. Peter loves his grandpa but wants his room back. He has no choice but to declare war! With the help of his friends, Peter devises outrageous plans to make Grandpa surrender the room. But Grandpa is tougher than he looks. Rather than give in, Grandpa plans to get even. They used to be such great pals. Has their war gone too far?” (Goodreads)

Movie: “Upset that he has to share the room he loves with his grandfather, Peter decides to declare war in an attempt to get it back” (IMDb). Stars Oakes Fegley as Peter and Robert De Niro as Grandpa. This movie has had a pretty tumultuous history within the past year. It was initially scheduled for release in April 2017, then pushed back to October, then again pushed back to February 2018. According to the Wrap, the producers bought it back from the Weinstein Company, which was going to distribute it, and there’s no news I can find about a new release date.

The Anubis Tapestry: Between Twilights by Bruce Zick (2006)

Book: “When a mummy’s curse condemns Dr. George Henry’s spirit to the Egyptian Underworld, his son Chance must try to free him. But Chance risks becoming a mummy himself when he binds himself in the wrappings of the mysterious Anubis Tapestry. Led by a comical creature named Blixx, Chance plumbs the depths of the Underworld and encounters a variety of horrible monsters. If Chance can’t return by twilight, he and Blixx will be trapped forever in the dead’s domain!” (Goodreads)

Movie: This is another book-to-film adaptation that has seen release problems. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it was originally scheduled for release in March of this year but was removed from the calendar by 20th Century Fox in 2017. It seems likely this animated movie won’t actually see the light of day (at least not this year), since I haven’t been able to find any other news about it. The link to its IMDb page is basically empty, unless you have access to IMDbPro. I hadn’t heard of the book it’s based on, which is out of print from its original publisher, Actionopolis/Komikwerks, and is only currently available from Createspace. (I’m kind of fascinated by how books become movies and why certain ones are selected and then how this kind of thing happens – but that’s a topic for another post.)

 

Young Adult

Ophelia by Lisa Klein (2006)

Book: “In this reimagining of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, it is Ophelia who takes center stage. A rowdy, motherless girl, she grows up at Elsinore Castle to become the queen’s most trusted lady-in-waiting. Ambitious for knowledge and witty as well as beautiful, Ophelia learns the ways of power in a court where nothing is as it seems. When she catches the attention of the captivating, dark-haired Prince Hamlet, their love blossoms in secret. But bloody deeds soon turn Denmark into a place of madness, and Ophelia’s happiness is shattered. Ultimately, she must choose between her love for Hamlet and her own life. In desperation, Ophelia devises a treacherous plan to escape from Elsinore forever . . . with one very dangerous secret” (Goodreads).

Movie: “A re-imagining of Hamlet, told from Ophelia’s perspective” (IMDb). Stars Daisy Ridley as Ophelia, Naomi Watts as Gertrude/Mechthild, and George MacKay as Hamlet, with Clive Owen and Tom Felton in supporting roles. The film premiered at Sundance in January but hasn’t yet had a wide release (if it will get one).

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008)

Book: “Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee — whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not — stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden — a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives. But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?” (Goodreads)

Movie: “A dystopian world where there are no women and all living creatures can hear each others’ thoughts in a stream of images, words, and sounds called Noise” (IMDb). The movie adaptation is called Chaos Walking, which is the name for the entire series of books, and will be released in 2019. It stars Tom Holland as Todd and Daisy Ridley as Viola, with Mads Mikkelsen as Mayor Prentiss (and he should do a very good job in the role). This is one of my favorite books/series, so I’m pretty excited about the adaptation.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers (1999)

Book: Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder. A Harlem drugstore owner was shot and killed in his store, and the word is that Steve served as the lookout. Guilty or innocent, Steve becomes a pawn in the hands of “the system,” cluttered with cynical authority figures and unscrupulous inmates, who will turn in anyone to shorten their own sentences. For the first time, Steve is forced to think about who he is as he faces prison, where he may spend all the tomorrows of his life. As a way of coping with the horrific events that entangle him, Steve, an amateur filmmaker, decides to transcribe his trial into a script, just like in the movies. He writes it all down, scene by scene, the story of how his whole life was turned around in an instant. But despite his efforts, reality is blurred and his vision obscured until he can no longer tell who he is or what is the truth. This compelling novel is Walter Dean Myers’s writing at its best.

Movie:”‘Monster’ is what the prosecutor calls 17 year old honors student Steve Harmon. He is being charged with felony murder. But is Steve really a monster? Adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Walter Dean Myers” (IMDb). Stars Kelvin Harrison, Jr. as Steve with Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Ehle, and Jennifer Hudson. The film was released in January at Sundance.

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (2001)

Book: “The great traction city London has been skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, the sinister plans of Lord Mayor Mangus Crome can finally unfold. Thaddeus Valentine, London’s Head Historian and adored famous archaeologist, and his lovely daughter, Katherine, are down in The Gut when the young assassin with the black scarf strikes toward his heart, saved by the quick intervention of Tom, a lowly third-class apprentice. Racing after the fleeing girl, Tom suddenly glimpses her hideous face: scarred from forehead to jaw, nose a smashed stump, a single eye glaring back at him. “Look at what your Valentine did to me!” she screams. “Ask him! Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!” And with that she jumps down the waste chute to her death. Minutes later Tom finds himself tumbling down the same chute and stranded in the Out-Country, a sea of mud scored by the huge caterpillar tracks of cities like the one now steaming off over the horizon. In a stunning literary debut, Philip Reeve has created a painful dangerous unforgettable adventure story of surprises, set in a dark and utterly original world fueled by Municipal Darwinism — and betrayal” (Goodreads).

Movie: “Many years after the ‘Sixty Minute War,’ cities survive a now desolate Earth by moving around on giant wheels attacking and devouring smaller towns to replenish their resources” (IMDb). Stars Steven Lang, Hugo Weaving, and Frankie Adams. The film will be released in December 2018.

Tweak by Nic Sheff (2008)

Book: “Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age eleven. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and Ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. As we watch Nic plunge into the mental and physical depths of drug addiction, he paints a picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. It’s a harrowing portrait—but not one without hope” (Goodreads).

Movie: “Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years” (IMDb). Nic’s father David wrote a memoir for adults about his son Nic’s addiction called Beautiful Boy, and the film combines both memoirs and takes its title from David’s work. It stars Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet as father and son and will be released in October.

 

 

You Should Watch . . .Guest Post by Mariko Tamaki

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We’re excited to be part of the official blog tour for Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s This One Summer. I highly recommend checking out the rest of the posts along the way, which are all rounded up right here.

Today, we’ve got Markio to talk about documentaries about the creative process that may be inspiring to other writers, artists, and creatively-driven types.

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To me, there is little more enjoyable and more fascinating than documentaries about the creative process.  Movies, not so much (aside from Broadcast news, which is a stretch).  Docs are my favorite way to pass the time on a Sunday.

I love watching people make art almost as much as I love making it myself.  So much of making art is done behind a black curtain.  At the same time, so much of making art is understanding how people create not just as individuals but as teams.

And so, in addition to encouraging people to read as much as possible, when asked about resources for creators young and old, I heartily recommend the following amazing documentaries about the creative process.

Most of these documentaries I would say are not for kids, if you think that language like the f-word is what makes a documentary not for kids (Beauty is Embarrassing especially).  But I think they’re all incredible portraits of the artistic process so I’m recommending them anyway.  

Indie Game (2012)

A documentary about indie game makers, specifically Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes creators of, Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish, creator of  FEZ, and Jonathan Blow creator of Braid.  A great portrait of not just the frustrations but the philosophy of making art.  For comic fans this is also a great doc for seeing how work goes from a sketch to something fully realized.  Edmund McMillen gives you a little window into the metaphors and nightmares of his childhood and connect up with game experiences he creates today.  See it because, in this movie, nerds win.  BIG.  You can go to the website and watch direct.  Which you should do.  And while you’re there read up on what the filmmakers have to say about how they made the film and how they’re distributing it.  Go. Indie. Game.

There is nothing uninspiring about Diana Vreeland and the way she sees and shapes the world around her.  Just for the pure joy of the visuals Vreeland inspired, moulded, and adored over her career, this documentary is worth watching.

Artist Wayne White is the guy behind so many cool things, it is astounding that he’s just one guy.  This is a great documentary because you get this picture of art as a career, as a commercial venture, and as a passion.  White looks back at his time as a sought after commercial artist, and shows you what it’s like to just fiddle with bits and pieces in his studio until it becomes something tangible.  

Crewdon’s photographs are so haunting, so still and yet complex, they are beyond words. And it takes a massive team to make them.  I loved this picture of behind the scenes looks at all the details that go into making something that feels, to me, pretty close to perfection.

When the book just does it better

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Before I dive in — this post contains spoilers, but they’re pulled out and there is adequate warning beforehand. You won’t have the story or the point ruined if you don’t want it to be!

I think I’ve talked before about my enjoyment of dark things, and it’s probably pretty obvious given the books that really stand out to me tend to go to very dark places. I don’t tend to shy away from horror nor gruesome things, either in print or on screen.

Back in October, I picked up Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. The writing in this one was deliciously creepy, haunting, and left me with chills. Hill captured atmosphere well in this novel. Atmosphere for me is sort of a nebulous idea — you can’t define it particularly well, but you know it when you read it — and it’s the atmosphere of Hill’s novel that makes it a book you don’t read in the dark (or you do knowing what the consequences will be). I became increasingly invested in this story the more I got to experience the woman in black; she crept into those places that almost made me a little jumpy.

The Woman in Black is a short book, clocking in at about 150 pages, but the story isn’t necessarily easy nor is it cut and dry. It’s a true thriller in that it leaves you with more questions than answers, and Arthur Kipps, the main character, only furthers the reader in asking questions. He doesn’t know what’s going on, and we, as outsiders, know a little more than he does but we can’t even be sure what we’ve figured out is true or simply buying into what other characters have told us. It’s a book you experience, rather than read.

I bought every word of this story until the very end, where I felt let down and disappointed with the resolution. That’s not to say Hill didn’t nail the ending because she does. It’s unsettling. Scary. But as a demanding reader, as one who’d been along for the ride, I didn’t like it. (For those looking for the spoiler-free version, skip the next paragraph).

When I read this, I saw Arthur as the first truly sympathetic character the woman ever had in her life. He’d spent the time to get to the truth of her story, the truth of why she lost her child. He wanted to put them all to rest in the proper way, and he approached this with a sort of respect no one else would give her. Despite how she treated him, he cared enough to make it right. At the end of the book when things look like they’re all right and like Arthur can resume his life as it had been prior to Eel Marsh House, she strikes again, and it’s not pretty. The conclusion, of course, being that no matter what, the woman was going to continue seeking revenge. It didn’t matter what happened or who tried to set it right. Evil won’t rest.

I felt disappointed because I’d become invested in Arthur. I wouldn’t say the ending ruined the book for me because it didn’t, but it made me think a lot about how that particular plot point could play out on the big screen. I’ve watched a fair number of horror movies, and this particular book struck me as one that might translate scenes like the last one better. Enhance them, even.

This weekend, I went and saw Daniel Radcliffe play the role of Arthur Kipp in Hill’s novel. I wanted to settle this battle with myself.

As a movie, I think this did a pretty good job. I haven’t seen the original film production — something on my to-do list if I can track it down — but I have to say, I was impressed enough. Radcliffe delivered in his role as Kipp, and I thought Eel Marsh House was rendered quite true to the story. This isn’t a gore-filled horror movie, and a lot of what made the audience jump came through what I thought were fairly cheap shots. They were effective, but they didn’t do much for me as a viewer who’d read the book. I think this is the kind of movie perfect for those who want to like scary movies but don’t. It might induce a nightmare or two, but it’s not going to psychologically ruin anyone who sees it.

I found myself paying much more attention to the atmospheric elements I’d been drawn to in the book; I didn’t find them quite there, but they were there enough. Seeing the woman in black was much less eerie than reading about her, and picturing how Eel Marsh House looked in my mind left me with more chills than actually seeing it on screen. Words, I think, are more powerful and frightening for me because they put the story right into my imagination, and I have to pull from my own experiences and ideas to depict these things. That is sometimes where true darkness lies. Having someone else’s image on screen depicting something counter to what I’ve envisioned can sometimes be a let down. So for me, there was much less impact visually than there has been upon reading Hill’s story on paper.

But the real let down for me, and the thing that left me wanting to write about this, was the change in the ending. As before, the next paragraph is spoiler, so skip it if you don’t want to know.

The film’s ending is more abrupt than the book’s. In the book, Arthur gets the opportunity to travel back to London and resume his life pre–Eel Marsh House. Things look like they’re resolved and like peace has been achieved, but then the woman strikes again. In the movie, though, Arthur never gets the chance to go home. Instead, when he gets to the train depot for his trip home, he sees the woman at the station and his son marches toward the oncoming train. Arthur dashes to the train to save his son, and in the process both he and his son die. It’s not entirely different in terms of what the resolution says, of course. The message being that the woman won’t rest. But — and this is a big but — in the film, Arthur is reunited with his deceased wife after the impact. She is, of course, representative of the angelic, of peace, of everything being okay. The ending here is ultimately redemptive. Even though the woman in black gets her revenge, it doesn’t matter because Arthur’s back with his dead wife and with his son. They’re going to a better afterlife. So the woman, as much as she thinks she’s in power here, isn’t in power. Instead, it’s Arthur’s wife.

I left the theater frustrated and maybe even a little bit angry. I wanted the ending to tell me more about what I couldn’t get from the book, but instead, I got something entirely different. Something that felt polished and clean. Of course, it made the story much more appealing to a broad audience. That’s not to say that in and of itself is problematic, but I felt myself thinking about the book.

It’s been months since I read Hill’s book, but I’ve considered rereading it. I think I liked it much more upon seeing how the story played out on screen. I think I’ve bought the ending a lot more, and I think I appreciated it on a whole new level after seeing how it was skewed on film. While these cinematic choices fall upon film makers and producers to tell the story how they see it, it wasn’t the story I read. It wasn’t the story I wanted to see on screen, either. I never expect a perfect adaptation on screen.

Walking away from a sanitized film version made me like the book on a new level — one I didn’t consider beforehand. The appeal on the film is much higher than the book itself, but that almost makes the book more for me. Knowing it doesn’t pull a punch at the end makes me appreciate it that much more. It’s darker, it’s scarier. It’s more haunting. I think it comes back to the fact I rely on my own dark places to put together the meaning, and the places where I can go are much darker, much less settled.

And thinking about it, I love the ending of Hill’s book. It was spot on. It was right. It was atmospheric.

I’m not a big book-to-film watcher, and I think this might be one of the first times I walked away from watching a book put on screen where I felt the book was cheated by the film. Reading is an intensely personal activity, and even if we talk about it, even if we blog and review the things we’ve read, it’s still a personal experience and what you take away from it comes only from what you bring to it (intellectually or through curiosity). Film, on the other hand, is much more about what the producers bring to you. It’s their interpretation of story. And while you can bring your own to it, it’s never quite the same. You’re sharing in a story with other people on many, many levels.

But I’m curious — are there other books-to-film out there you’ve felt this way about? Or if you’ve seen and read The Woman in Black (or only seen or only read), I’d love to hear your thoughts, too.

Guest Post: Courtney Summers on Essential Horror Books-Turned-Film

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Our final post as part of horror Mondays at STACKED is from Courtney Summers. Courtney’s a bit of an expert on horror, having tackled real-life horrific events in Cracked Up to Be, Some Girls Are, and Fall for Anything, and, in her forthcoming June 2012 title This is Not a Test, she’ll be tackling what happens when real-life horror meets the things nightmares are made of: zombies.

Courtney has offered up her favorite horror films every year since 2009 on her blog, and this year, she’s also spotlighted a book as part of Nova Ren Suma’s “What Scares You” series that scared her into a fascination with horror as a kid (and, if you haven’t, you need to check out Nova’s series of posts). It seemed only natural to ask if she’d talk about a few of the horror novels-turned-film that have stuck with her for one reason or another.


The Amityville Horror

The thing the book and the movie both have in common is that they are not very good but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth watching or reading! The movie is pretty slow moving and not truly scary (unless you scare easily?), but there is something about watching James Brolin get angrier and angrier throughout that is quite compelling and unintentionally hilarious. The book reads a bit dry but there was one moment in it that kinda freaked me out, but I can’t tell you about it because it’s a spoiler. (Spoiler: The house is haunted!) In any case, you should check both out because you don’t want to be the only person at a cocktail party who HASN’T read or seen The Amityville Horror. I mean, really. How embarrassing.


The Haunting

Read. Watch. Now. That is all. Seriously. That is all. It is all I need to say. You must.


Misery

There’s a reason Kathy Bates won the Oscar for her portrayal of Annie Wilkes, an obsessed superfan who kidnaps her favourite author and holds him hostage in her remote cabin in the woods for such a long time it makes me want to cry just thinking about it (poor author). That reason is because she is seriously creepy. Damn. The movie is intense and claustrophobic and guess what? The book it is based on, by the master, Stephen King? The same. Except more. CAN YOU HANDLE IT?

Psycho

In all honesty, it’s been a long time since I read the book. I was young when I first picked it up, but I remember being pretty devastated that Robert Bloch’s description of Norman Bates didn’t sound anything like Anthony Perkins, who I was obsessed with at the time. The other impression I had of this book was how creepy and skeevy I found Norman Bates, which is probably exactly how I’m supposed to find him. Anthony Perkins’s interpretation of the character is quite empathetic (in my opinion), which (in my opinion) makes him that much more terrifying. Look, I really shouldn’t have to sell you on Psycho. It’s a CLASSIC. It had an IMPACT. Go read it and then see it. I mean if you go to a cocktail party and you’re like, “I’ve never read or seen the Amityville Horror,” you better be able to immediately make up for it by saying, “But OF COURSE I have read and seen Psycho.”

Film v. Book: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

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At BEA, Kim and I managed to score copies of the first volume of Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Lies from one of the graphic novel vendors. They were giving them away as part of the promotions for the upcoming film. In my effort to keep atop of pop culture, I read the book…then the second and third…and needed to see the film, despite my adamant no-Michael-Cera-films stance.

I’m glad I did!

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was more hilarious than the book let on, and in our group of four attendees, everyone got a number of hearty laughs out of this one, even though only half of us knew the story.

Scott Pilgrim is an unemployed, 23-year-old living with his gay roommate (and sharing his bed, his couch, his food, etc). He’s also dating a high schooler he met on the bus, Knives. Oh, and he’s in a band, The Sex Bob-ombs. He takes a lot of crap from his friends, naturally, but when he begins dreaming of a cute girl with wild colored hair, things are going to change.

Ramona Flowers skates into his life, quite literally: she’s just left New York for Toronto and is working as an Amazon.ca local delivery girl. Scott? He’s smitten. But everyone warns him not to get involved….he has a girlfriend, and she’s been known to be, well, weird. He ignores their advice to find out that in order to get with Ramona, he will need to battle her seven exes. It will be epic.

Scott Pilgrim on film differs quite a bit from the books, although the central storyline is similar. Having only read the first three books, I can’t speak too much, but some of the battle scenes are different, as are the encounters among characters (I had been looking so forward to the battle between Knives and Ramona in the downtown Toronto Public Library, but it didn’t happen there). Scott’s roommate differs a lot from what I thought he was, but perhaps it was good — he didn’t succumb in the film to the typical gay-guy-in-a-film stereotypes.

One thing to keep in mind, if you’re going to read the book or see the film, is that there is a lot of video gaming woven into the story line — so much so, that it would not be a stretch to consider the entirety of the book or the film as one giant video game. Scott needs to defeat evil to win the girl of his dreams, but the human element comes in quite strongly when he and Ramona realize what jerks they’ve been to other people in the quest of achieving their own goals. Even the most casual gamers will get a kick out of this aspect.

Although the movie had side splitting humorous moments (and I quite literally got a good laugh every couple of minutes), there was a lack of character development for most of the characters. And it was tough to believe that Scott never knew he had super powers, but this is something that I’ve been told is fleshed out a bit better later on in the comic series. But given the humorous situations, this is also easy to overlook.

My favorite part of the movie, though, was how well it incorporated a realistic setting with computer graphics and incorporation of the actual comic itself. A number of “flashback” or explanation scenes brought the comic onto screen and animated it slightly — the movie felt authentically comic. It is what you would expect of a loser kung fu ninja movie.

This is one worth checking out, whether you are familiar with the story or not. You will get the threads and a number of good laughs. Although there is a lot of violence (Scott DOES have to defeat 7 evil exes), there is no blood or gore. This is comic violence, reminiscent of your Saturday morning cartoon violence. It’s actually kind of refreshing. The movie will appeal to older teens through adults. And of course, it will spur readers into the comic book. I know I plan on finishing out the series to get even further into the story and to see what other differences existed in the transition from comic to big screen.