The Art of Adaptation

Spoiler, obviously. (Haven't figured it out how it works here)



I felt the Somi story was pretty good in the film, but in the book, reading her description of the world, with the fashion trends and the moon advertisement, overall this insight in her world there and the characters was kinda better in the book, but still we got every aspect of it in the film, we just were more introduced and had more xplanations of this futuristic world in the book. 
Kinda missed the extreme abuse replicants faced, but still very good.
Sonmi's love was used as a plot device for the film, and I understand it and how it worked well for the plot, but in the books she faced a huge betrayal by her allies and her lover. So the book is darker there.

I’ll defiantly read it before watching it. Also, I love your avi, Avatar is one of my all time favorite cartoons. I’m partial to Aang’s story more the Korra.



I feel conflicted about the Harry Potter films. I love the books and they’ll always hold a very special place in my heart. The films, however, were hit and miss with me. I liked some, not so much others. I would say that the films got better as the children aged and became better actors.

I read Twilight series and I thought it was good at the time. The films, however, are pretty bad. The acting and everything else s sub-par to say the least.

The Harry Potter films were very hit and miss, I agree. My favourite were the first two and the fourth, all of which I thought were brilliant.The others were pretty mediocre at best, except the Half Blood Prince, which was atrocious.
What I liked about the adaptations;
They captured the changing tones of the books as the characters aged. 1 & 2 particularly have a whimsical and light tone, despite some creepy dark stuff in them, and the movies capture this. Goblet is the book when things start getting darker, and again, the film grabs this well and runs with it. OotP is a bit of a mix of average teenage stress and exam stuff mixed with an ever present threat lurkin in the shadows, which compounds to create a feel of intense frustration and anger. The film falls a little short here, but is overall good. Half Blood Prince (the book) is, yes, quite focused on the fact that the characters are now of an age where they look for relationships, but unlike the film, there is more to the book than that. The film just turned it into "RAGING HORMONAL TEENAGERS GOT TO A MAGIC SCHOOL AND KISS AMD SHIT!"
Wasn't a fan of the last book or film.

Anyway, about Cloud Atlas. I think it would have been very easy to do the film badly. Judging by the story as its presented in the film, it would be pretty easy to present it in a way that leaves the audience confused. Fortunately, I felt I was able to follow along quite easily.

Edit: one of the worst adaptations I have seen is the Hobbit films. The idea that a children's book of what, 300 pages? Could be stretched out into roughly 9 hours of cinema is a joke. Even when they stuck to the source material the film stank like a giant pile of dog shit. There were three redeeming features though; Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, and the wonderful CinemaSins videos the films spawned

Hobbit truly was bad. I didn't read the books, but you still feel that it is stretched. And so unrewarding. Nothing happens in the end. Nothing fits together and It creates plot holes in regard to LotR and makes certain scenes unspecial. Like the Legolas/Gimli relationship, or the elf woman and the dwarf. I mean it is supposed to be Gimli that is the first dwarf that gets on good terms with elves.

Anyone got opinions on Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code?

I actually did a school presentation some years back about the film adaptation of Da Vinci Code and it's differences.

In bits and pieces.

Haha, no it was. It cut the end message a bit, as there was actually another living relative and the film botched the ending with Sophie trying to walk on water, which contradicts everything that has been said throughout the film about Jesus.

In the book there were two cryptex. A black one and a white one, inside each other.

And we get more codes and decypherings of architecture. The man is a genius and I owe it to these books that I have that fascination with the symbols in architecture and art.


Angels and Demons was a bit sad. I had read the book before the film, so I missed that they cut the first half of the book, where Brown made an excellent lecture about physics and chemistry, explaining the anti matter. A real science fest this part of the book.
The assassin was bad casting. From the actor's looks, nationality and his wardrobe and lifestyle.
In the book the last preferiti dies. So I was surprised they changed that, but liked the surprise about it.
I was also impressed that they actually went with the idea of Langdon using the bubble tube thing to breath.
The character change of the Camerlengo is up to debate, because they really really changed him.
Also Langon went into the chopper and jumped out of it without a chute and survived. Yep.

The last branding was actually a diamond shape of the four words, not the keys.

A huge change was the combination of the police boss and the CERN official. In the film we get Skasgard in a wheelchair as police boss, while In the books the entire time an official from CERN in a wheelchair follows Langdon and the other characters, giving information and making himself prime suspect. The police guy in the books is everything Skasgard is in the film without the wheelchair.


Both times I like book and film, but for a quick dive in into the matter and to relive the entire story I go for the film, for certain scenes, more information, or during some moments of boredom and nostalgia I go for the book, flap it open at any page and read some.

Haha yeah it was a bit unexciting I guess, though I kind of liked it. Since she was like a REAL robot trying to understand life, how her great would be achievement (with that retiring in beautiful paradise) is just a flashy lie.....that factory was brutal! Lol I still find it chilling to read!