Insurgent: Book vs. Movie

Over the weekend, my family went see the long awaited second installment of Insurgent. I was thoroughly pleased on how the movie turned out, although I have to admit, I don't remember some of the book... Don't worry I "shmooped" the book. 

Anyway, I thought the movie was great; it had more action scenes which who can't say no to that? And then they had to add the teenage canoodle scene as well just to add to the fact that Tris and Tobias love each other very much. 

Some people might be like "well the movie didn't stick to the book so it's a bad movie adaptation" but what do I say to this? Who cares??? There are some major plots that were changed because in the first movie Divergent, they didn't stick straight to the plot. I think most people don't read the screen when it says, "BASED on the novel Insurgent".

I feel like I am contradicting myself but I don't care. I loved the movie and that's final. NO ONE can tell me I am wrong. America is a free country and you can say whatever you want. I digress...

Back to the movie and book comparison. This part will contain spoilers! Repeat SPOILERS so don't read anything below this paragraph if you have not read the book and/or seen the movie. If you are not planning to do either, be my guest.


The book and movie are on opposite sides of the venn diagram:

Courtesy of my Amazing Venn Diagram Talents

The movie has lots of big differences but you learn to accept it since they changed so much in the first movie. Like in the first movie, Tris and Tobias don't get the flashdrive like they did in the book. So in this movie, Jeanine is trying to find a Divergent that can open a golden box. The divergent has to go through all five faction sins to make the box open but all of the tested divergents die. And guess what? Tris is the only divergent that is one hundred percent compatible to open the box.

In the book, Jeanine wants Tris to test what makes her different, what makes her divergent. I have to say that the ordeal Tris has to go through in the movie is a lot more cooler in the book. But that is my opinion. 

Another difference is the movie kills people off at the wrong order and the people who do the killing are the wrong people. Like Jeanine dies because of Tori. Not because of Evelyn. And Max, a minor character who was a Dauntless traitor, died at the beginning of the book not the very end. And Eric... Eric dies and everyone jumps up and down in happiness. 

Overall, I loved the movie and I do recommend it to the bookworms out there who have not gotten around to watch the film. Even though the bookworm inside is saying "they did this all wrong" or "why did they change that", enjoy the movie. Don't be the annoying friend who leans over every minute and tells the person next to you that they did something wrong. *coughs* looks a certain direction.

Insurgent's movie adaptation is probably one of the best I have seen even though they did not follow the book precisely; who does that anyway? Most of the movie adaptations coming from young adult novels seem to be based on the book, not the exact replica of the book. We just need to learn to live with it and I finally accepted, by watching Insurgent, that even though I will complain my darn hardest that the movie did everything absolutely, positively wrong, I will still like it.

I do have to say though, there are some adaptations that need serious help; like extreme help from the author who wrote the book in the first place.

Hope you enjoyed reading this amazing review! If you don't agree or you agree or you have something random to say, please leave comments! Love ya bookworms!

The Hobbit: Book vs. Movie

Image Courtesy of Ebay.com

It's time for another movie adaptation review! Yay! Come on say yay with me! On the count of three. One! Two! Three! Yay! Why are we yaying? Well, we are yaying because the last Hobbit movie has arrived in theaters and guess who saw it? I did! Now, I might get some facts wrong because it has been awhile since I have read The Hobbit but don't do any hatin' please. I would prefer constructive criticism more than anything, if you wouldn't mind. 

Okay onto the good stuff. As you know, I saw The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies, the last installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit franchise. I thought it was great with excellent battle sequences and everything but of course there were parts I was questioning. But I don't want to focus on the last movie but all three movies together with book. 

I must say that the movies were definitely action-packed and had the budding romance but the movies weren't as faithful to the book as the Lord of the Rings were. For the next part, there will be spoilers but I think, if you were a book nerd like me, you would have already seen it. I will give you three examples of how the movie strays from the literary counterpart. 

Image Courtesy of Lotr.wikia.com

One example is the character, Tauriel. She made her appearance in the movies because Peter Jackson really liked (not romantically) the actress, Evangeline Lilly, and invited her to act in one of J.R.R. Tolkien's other stories. Tauriel's presence, for me, was to strengthen the girl power in the movie because there weren't many women who were kick-ass in The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. Truthfully, I liked her because she had a Legolas quality in her. 

Another example is the love triangle between Legolas, Tauriel, and Kili. In the book, Legolas and Tauriel weren't not supposed to make an appearance at all, but every movie has to have a romantic aspect. But in the end, Tauriel had to choose someone and that someone was Kili. Sadly, the growing romantic atmosphere wasn't as strong as it was in other movies and books, therefore I was not impressed. 

The last example I will rant about is Gandalf's side quest to find the coming darkness or whatever it was called. The darkness turned out to be Sauron, who later is the antagonist in the Lord of the Rings franchise. As I recall, I don't think Gandalf was searching for anything in the book. Sure he was absent a lot but I don't think he was trying to find something. It was cool to see Gandalf, Elrond, Saruman, and Galadriel all together for a intense battle scene though. That was pretty wicked.

Image Courtesy of Screen Rant

I apologize for attacking The Hobbit movies but I thought the book was a bit better, of course. I don't mean any harm but there were a lot of problems I saw in the three movies but overall, I really liked them because they were action-packed and funny, at some parts. I think Peter Jackson needed to add more characters and subplots so that the movies could be made into a not needed trilogy but hey, it kinda worked. 

If you agree, disagree, or just plain hated what I wrote, please leave something in the comments... And make sure it is constructive criticism! Thanks for listening to my ranting!

Oh! I want to share this cool website that I found but it is more irrelevant than relevant to what I was talking about. Hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as I did, so here!

My Thoughts on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I Movie

Image Courtesy of The Hollywood News

Last week, I had the opportunity to watch the first installment of The Mockingjay. I have to say, it was better than the book in some ways but I have to agree with the critiques out there, the movie makers did not need to make The Mockingjay into two movies. Before I get ahead of myself though, I'll give you the good thoughts first and then my bad thoughts. There might be spoilers but I am not certain they will give the whole plot away. 

Good:
There was action. More action than what was described in the book. Do you remember what happened in the book? Well I kinda don't but I do remember Suzanne Collins did not go into detail with the rebellions of other districts. Luckily for you, the movie does and it's totally wicked. 

I have to say though. The movie shocked me at one point. Do you like Jennifer Lawerence? I did but now I like her more because of what she did in the movie other than cry. She sung and she did a good job too! Later she said that she wanted Lorde to do it and spent the rest of the day crying because it was so traumatic* but still! She has this deep and gravelly voice that fits the mood perfectly. If you haven't heard Jennifer sing yet, the video is at the end of the post. 

Image Courtesy of Los Angeles Times

Bad:
Katniss cries a lot and I mean a lot. It seems she could've looked to the brighter side of things but since Peeta, the love of her life, is in the Capitol, she can't function on her own. Poor Gale is trying to help her out of her mood swings but he is pushed away. 

I am not trying to hate on Katniss or Suzanne Collins but I don't like how Katniss spends most of the movie moping and crying. There are scenes where everything seems to be okay but then as quickly as it starts, the scene ends and we are thrown back into the depression state.

This part of my ranting will not cover the movie but the end of the book. So if you haven't gotten around to read the book, this will contain spoilers. For the spoiler-haters, jump down to the next paragraph, please. I will not be responsible for any anger that was provoked in reading the spoilers.

Image Courtesy of The Hunger Games Wikia Page

I wish that Katniss chose Gale instead of Peeta. I don't like how the movie franchise portrayed Peeta as well, in respect of Josh Hutcherson. I always thought from the beginning Peeta was too much of baby. He couldn't fend for himself in the first Hunger Games and he was having a hard time in the Quarter Quell game as well. Gale on the other hand is strong and brave. He will stand up for what he believes in and is not afraid to get whipped for it. Gale was there for Katniss the whole movie but Katniss didn't acknowledge his comforting presence that often. If I was Katniss, I would choose Gale at the end of everything. 


Compared to the book, the movie was a bit better because of the action snippets the director decided to add. The actors and actresses did an amazing job and the director should have a round of applause for his contribution on the film. 

Overall the movie, for me, was just a long trailer to the second half of The Mockingjay but it did have some perks and I will certainly see the Mockingjay Part II. If you have any concerns of what you have read, please leave your comments down below in the feedback box. 

                        Video Courtesy of Republic Records

*Definitely not the exact words she used but I did hear she cried afterwards because it was so embarrassing.