The Lights Never Quite Came On...

If you're wondering why I didn't yet post my reaction and compare/contrast of the movie City of Ember to the book, The City of Ember, there is a good reason. I have not yet seen it. Cassidy and I wanted to go together on a weekend. But our schedules have not yet allowed us. Bart and I are to see her this coming Sunday, perhaps it will happen then. Perhaps. For my interest in seeing it has waned. From what I heard, the movie did not do so well. Plus, you might recall that Sunshine's students read it for class. They watched the film. Sunshine tells me they returned and asked her, "Did they read the book before they made the movie?" I probably would ask the same thing. For I can be rather fussy when it comes to adaptations as well. It's nice to know that the next generation is learning to be intolerant of sloppy work. To respect art. It's one thing to make allowances and changes to reflect a new medium. It's another to completely alter a work. And from what I have seen in commercials, the other complaints I have heard from Sunshine's students and the fizzling excitement I've read of what is supposed to be a "family movie," this is not one of the better conversions.

If I ever do see it, I'll post about it. But it seems as if I should let my vision of Ember come from Jeanne DuPrau's novel.

My other posts about it are here and here.

Update: Sunshine read the post and told me more. She said she is proud of her students for their disgust. She said, a really precocious girl told me with absolute horror in her voice that they added a MONSTER. "A MONSTER!!! There are no MONSTERS. They missed the point entirely."

Brava, precocious girl!

Don't let Hollywood stomp on literature by thinking they know better. It's the rare case when they do.