Book-to-Movie Adaptation Reviews: Warm Bodies and Beautiful Creatures

Over the long week-end I finally had some time to watch Beautiful Creatures and Warm Bodies. The only reason I read Beautiful Creatures and Warm Bodies was because I saw that it was becoming a  movie. I like to "read it, before I see it."
In this post, I will be discussing what was good and bad about the movie/book.
Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1) by Isaac Marion

You can read my review for this book here.
Like all book-to-movie adaptations, the movie takes parts of the book out. In the movie, R does not get married and have kids before meeting Julie (the love interest). The director, Jonathan Levine, was brilliant to take out this part of the novel. The majority of young adults (including me) are not very open to having a character marry one character and fall in-love with another.
Next, in the book, R is wearing a tie and a nice button up shirt. In the movie however, R is just wearing a white tee with a red hoodie. The movie R, has a younger feel and appearance to him, which is another bonus to the movie.
The movie was definitely more funny. However, in the book, you understood the characters more; you understood how Perry was slowly starting to loose hope for a cure, and how the death of Julie's mom really caused a toll on both Julie and her dad. Also, Isaac Marion went more in depth with the connection R and Perry had. The movie does not really touch those aspects.

Overall: I think I enjoyed the movie as much as the book.
Buy Warm Bodies on DVD at: Amazon

Beautiful Creatures (The Caster Chronicles #1) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
You can read my review for this series here.
Unlike Warm Bodies, the Beautiful Creatures movie was not a big hit. In the movie, they changed the playout of the plot. Ethan finds the necklace first, and then meets Lena. I'm sure there were more changes to the adaptation, however, I could not finish the movie. It was just so boring!
The book was very long. Although personally I thought Margaret and Kami could have shorten certain parts, there was still a lot of content to cover. Out of the first section I watched, the movie does not do a good job of explain Casters to a mortal (in this case Ethan). This leaves the people who have not heard the book very confused. Also, in the book, Lena's poetry is very significant, she expresses herself through poetry. However, in the movie, when Lena shows Ethan her collection, the cool lights and special effects take the attention away from the actually words.

Overall: The book was better than the movie.
Buy Beautiful Creatures on DVD at: Amazon

3 out of 5: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies # 1) by Isaac Marion

Summary:

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse. Just dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead and the blurry line in between.

Review:

There was a lot of hype for the movie based on this book. Of course, I must read the book before going to see the movie. I surprised at how thin this book was, but the nice thing is that it doesn't drag on. (Managed to finish this in one day)

There are certain things that were awkward and gross. The beginning of the book R gets married and "has" kids. It was obvious that the "girl" R married would not be the love interest of the book but, it did bother me. How can you be married with kids then, fall in love with another girl and forget all about your kids and wife? What makes it worse it the pace of the book; R meets the girl then 3 pages later, he is married and "has" kids.

On the back of the book, there are many quotes that suggest that this book is "slacker-zombie novel with a heart" or "most unexpected romantic lead." As a result, I don't think this book lived up to the quotes. There is a lot of unusual aspects in this book. The one I had a problem with would be that zombies don't know there names/age, in fact, they don't remember anything. Thus, the reader never really gets a good grasp on the age of R. I found this unnerving because I didn't know if he was 30 or around the same age as Julie.

Also, I was expecting a bigger explanation for R's brain/subconscious connection. The plot was fairly captivating, and the ending was nicely written. (Although some inferring was needed.) I just hope the movie will be better, however as history suggests: the book is always better.

Find Warm Bodies on: Goodreads | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com