This fall, several beloved books will be produced into feature films.
Picture book comes to life
On Oct. 16, the surreal imagery of Caldecott Medal winner Where the Wild Things Are will get the silver screen treatment.’
Maurice Sendak’s picture book is an ideal choice for a film adaptation, and the previews reveal no less. Expressive monster faces mingle with fantastic, serene landscapes.’
Where the Wild Things Are adapts the original illustrator’s style with meticulous technological attention to detail.
The visuals are lush and the trailers tug on viewers’ heartstrings, but one has to wonder if the original source material can sustain a feature-length film. The original children’s story consisted of 10 sentences detailing the simplistic emotional mindscape of an ornery, vegetable-refusing, bedtime-postponing little kid with a biting problem.’
To mature audiences, the film may be slightly reminiscent of The Polar Express, being visually stunning and yet void of actual substance.
Abuse tale made into film
Moviegoers who need more realism should seek the nearest art house where Precious will be showing.
This independent drama is based on Push, a critically-acclaimed novel about an illiterate black teenager who struggles to escape an abusive and incestuous home.’
The novel was well received. It won the Mind Book of the Year Award (UK) and was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction.
The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January where it won the Audience Award: Dramatic, the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, and the Special Jury Prize for Acting for actress Mo’Nique.’
This November, it will come to theatres in select cities across the country.’
Post-apocalyptic tale too quiet for theaters
Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Road, has already received some Oscar buzz.
The film boasts star power, with Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron. The big-screen adaptation of The Road uses epic visual effects to portray the dismal ruins of modern civilization. The trailers promise plenty of action scenes and face time for Charlize Theron.’
However, thrill-seekers and Theron fans may be disappointed. Despite the action-heavy trailers, McCarthy’s novel generally strips away scenery and de-emphasizes violence.’ Plus, Theron’s character does not have many more lines in the 200-page novel than what viewers see in the movie’s two-minute trailers.’
The book itself does have several action scenes, that when combined with the sympathy for the protagonists, are a page-ripping read.’
However, relatively little character or plot development occurs during the novel, and McCarthy tends to focus on detailing the simple events of life at the expense of more exciting developments. If the director stays faithful to his literary source, viewers may have to endure a boring and inconclusive movie.’
McCarthy is also a cherished stylist who develops long swaths of delicate poetic description throughout his work, all of which will likely be lost via cinema. Sentimentalists who find beauty in his writing may well be equally disappointed.
Viewers can come to their own conclusions on Nov. 25.
Prepare to be dazzled
New Moon, the latest installment of the Twilight saga, will continue the romance between Bella Swan and her vampire lover, Edward. ‘
According to the School Library Journal, Stephenie Meyer’s writing is ‘succinct, and easy to follow.”
In other words, Meyer does not utilize subtlety or a variety of diction when describing the skeletal, predatory romance between her leads.
‘I couldn’t feel anything but despair until I pulled into the familiar parking lot behind Forks High School and spotted Edward leaning motionlessly against his polished silver Volvo, like a marble tribute to some forgotten pagan god of beauty,’ New Moon‘s first chapter reads.
Needless to say, forgoing the 563-page book and watching the movie will probably be an intellectually safe route for the lazy, yet culturally curious.’
The film debuts in theaters Nov. 20.
