Have you ever sat in the theater anxiously awaiting a new film that’s based off your favorite book, only to be completely disappointed? Book to movie adaptations can be tricky. There’s so many moments that fans want to see on the big screen, but constricted time to show it all. Most of the time, movies that flop as adaptations don’t have the author involved. Their goal isn’t to stay true to the story the author wrote, but to typically appeal to a certain audience. It’s sad when you expect to see your favorite play out on the big screen and it doesn’t even come close. It’s a good thing that no matter what, you always have the books!
Vampire Academy
The Vampire Academy is an amazing book series by Richelle Mead that follows Rose, a badass Dhamphir guardian at St Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampires. Her best friend Lissa is royalty and a Morai, meaning she must be protected from the Strigoi, the undead, evil vampires. It is Rose’s duty to protect her, but of course that doesn’t come easy in such a dangerous world. This is one of our all time favorite series, so we were thrilled when they announced they were making a movie. Unfortunately, the film was a huge joke. Immediately when watching you can tell that they tried to appeal to a young audience, it was corny and the dialogue was so cringe. The whole thing was a complete mess from start to finish. We did like the actress that played Rose and thought she was a good actress, however the lines they gave her didn’t even come close to how whitty and badass she is in the books. The rest of the acting was pretty bad and we honestly wish they never tried to make this into a movie to begin with. A world as vast and complex as this deserves a television show on a network that would do it justice. Jaclyn’s sister Anamaria fell asleep before we were even halfway through. Yup, that bad.
Percy Jackson
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is one of our all time favorite series, next to Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments. If you’ve never heard of it, it follows Percy, a 12 year old demigod, who finds out about his true parentage and makes his way to Camp Half Blood, a camp for demigods who need protection from the monsters. Percy Jackson has a similar feel of Harry Potter in the sense that you watch him grow up as you read. So back when The Lightning Thief, the first book, was announced it was being made into a movie, we had hope. We were optimistic, but nervous. Unfortunately, the people in charge of creating this movie didn’t care about book fans. They told author Rick Riordan that children don’t read and decided to gear it towards a teenage audience. This was a huge mistake on their part. It’s crazy to think that someone can tell an author who has a best selling series that kids don’t read. Somehow they were able to make a second movie, which was pretty accurate to how the first one went. Don’t get me wrong, these movies might be enjoyable to someone who has never read the series, but for book fans it was a huge let down.
On a happier note, Percy Jackson is being adapted into a show on Disney Plus! We are so excited for this because Rick is on board and we have faith it is in the right hands. We can’t wait for it to finally get the adaptation it deserves!
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
This is a painful one to discuss. So back in 2013, City of Bones, the first of the series was turned into a movie. This series is another one that has an incredible, but complex world. Basically there are shadowhunters, who hunt the demons. They get these powers to do so through runes, tattoos that are drawn on their bodies with something called a stele. They fight the darkness and keep the world safe from the monsters. The series is about Clary, a girl who discovers this world after her mom is taken. She meets shadowhunter Jace and his siblings and begins to learn about her mom’s past and who she really is. The series is so brilliantly written and so well thought out. The movie wasn’t on the level of Vampire Academy bad, but it still wasn’t great. We actually thought the casting of the movie was good, but there were still some things they changed that didn’t really work and there were cheesy moments. Unsurprisingly, they did not get a second movie.
Then came the television show adaption, which we were super excited for because with a world as big as the one Cassie Clare created, a show is a better option. The casting was so good for the television show and we thought they were all amazing people. We had the opportunity of meeting several of the cast during the promo for the show and at New York Comic Con. We thought they put together an amazing cast. The show started off good, but it soon went off track too much. Don’t get me wrong, some change is good in an adaptation. However, they began to change really important plot lines and it just became unenjoyable. At this point, I have lost all trust in getting a faithful adaptation for this series and will stick to the books!
Divergent Series
The Divergent movie adaptations are an example of starting off really good, then losing momentum as the movies went on. Personally, the last book in the series was a let down so we were kind of hoping the movies would go a different route for the conclusion of Tris’s story. The first movie was a solid adaptation, yes it could have been stronger, but it wasn’t horrible. We loved Shailene Woodley as Tris and Theo James made an awesome Four. If you haven’t heard of the series, it is about a dystopian society that is split into five factions, each one highlighting a certain virtue. Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Tris grew up in the abnegation faction, however when she must choose which faction to devote the rest of her life to, she chooses dauntless. She must undergo dangerous trials that will test her endurance all while learning secrets of this “perfect” society she lives in. When the second movie adaptation, Insurgent, was released was when the movies began to go down hill. They strayed from the overall plot lines and made it more confusing than it needed to be. The Allegiant part one film was a similar situation and did so bad that they didn’t even make a part two. Yikes.
Although this article may seem to be more negative than positive, this just goes to show that books are usually better than their adaptations. It’s very difficult to take a series that so many fans love and turn it into something that is worthy of the story. If you have never read these incredible series before, we highly recommend you pick them up. Yes the films could have been so much better, but the most important thing is that the books never change and they will always be there to revisit!