Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Novel Films Blogfest: Children's Books and Movies


 

 My favorite children's stories turned into great movies: 

1.  Horton Hears a Who - This is my all time favorite children's book.  I believe I have read it so many times I have it memorized.  This book alone made me want to be a children's author.  I wasn't so sure about the movie.  But I loved it.  I love how it doesn't try to replicate the movie exactly.  It tells the story differently from the perspective of the Mayor of Whoville, who really doesn't get much attention in the book.  I love it.

2.  The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - I read the book as a child and loved it.  I saw the movie as an adult with my kids and loved it too.  It made me want to read the books again.  Luckily my kids have the whole set.


Movies I didn't love as much as the book:

1.  A Series of Unfortunate Events - I read one of the books with my son and several with my daughter when she was younger.  I love the humor, the suspense, the characterization, the plot, the way the author uses big words and explains them in context.  I love how the kids are smarter than the adults and survive every situation.  Maybe it is the characterization that does the magic for me - the adult characters are comical but their actions are sinister (the bad ones at least). 

I would have paid to see twelve corresponding movies after reading twelve books.  But the movie was a random, out-of-sequence mix of the first four.  The casting was genius.  The way they rewrote the story was disappointing to say the least.  The books were better.  I highly recommend them for the 3rd to 5th grade crowd.  Or for adults that want a comical escape.
 
2.  The Grinch That Stole Christmas - Horrible.  Enough said. 

3.  Charlotte's Web - The book was one of the first chapter books I read as a child.  I saw the movie with my kids.  I remember they loved it.  It was completely unmemorable for me.  Literally, I don't remember anything about it. 

4.  Stuart Little - The book was one of my favorites.  The movie was not.  My kids liked it though.

5.  Fairy Tales - I am a huge fan of fairy tales, the originals, Grimm or otherwise.  Obviously, they have provided an infinite source of movie ideas for Disney.  I loved the movies when I was a kid, as have my children.  But I prefer the originals, Grimm, Celtic, Native American, all of them.  My eReader and bookshelf are stuffed full of volumes of them from different cultures. 

6 comments:

  1. I had sit through The Grinch with my niece and nephew. It was like torture!

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  2. I forgot Stuart Little . . . I never did like that one, though the people I watched it with seemed to really enjoy it. LOL.

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  3. I've got a few gaps (er, bye 'a few', what I really mean is 'a lot') in my childhood books. I did read and see Where the Wild Things are though.

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  4. Ellie - I couldn't make it through the whole thing. Terrible.

    Golden Eagle - My kids loved it. We had the same red barbie car. They put beanie rats in the front seat. Hours of fun. I thought the acting was horrible.

    Rusty - I love Where the Wild Things are too. I haven't seen the movie - I heard it was too wild for my youngest.

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  5. Don't have much of an opinion on these since I haven't seen most of them and didn't even read all of the books.


    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  6. Lots of these I've watched but not read or read but not watched. Great list :O)

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