It’s been a year of some major book to movie adaptations, some more successful than others. (And some just downright terrible – cough Allegiant cough). But for book lovers, there’s always the eternal debate of which version was better – while the book usually wins out, sometimes the movie adaptation just adds that little extra something which makes the whole story more magical.
Here are our thoughts on five of these book-to-movie adaptations:
Me Before You
Told with such candid emotion and fluidity, Me Before You is one of my all-time favorite romance books. It’s darker than most romance novels yet it’s filled with so much heart, wit and chemistry that’s carried throughout the plot. Also, as one who tends to read quite a bit of romance books, it’s easy for stories to blur after reading one after another. However, Me Before You stands out from the rest. With an ending that left me in tears (or I’d like to label as….”allergies”), I knew that this book was quite different than any other.
Since I was quite obsessed with the book, I made sure that I got to meet author Jojo Moyes, herself and personally thank her for creating this story. When I met her, she was currently on tour promoting the movie. After watching the exclusive trailers, I was set with high expectations and initially thought that I would love the movie. However, it was not the case.
Though the movie covers the major plot points of the book, the film felt rushed and a bit staggered. The movie version somehow lost the fluidity and grace that I loved so much about the book. Also, though I loved the performance of Emilia Clarke (who played Louisa Clark) and Sam Claflin (who played William Traynor) separately, I felt as if their chemistry together wasn’t what I felt or envisioned as I read the book. Perhaps if there was more development and build up that led to the emotional ending, I would have loved it more. But due to its shortcomings, I just didn’t fall in love with it. And though I don’t like saying that the book is usually better than the movie version, I find it to be the case for Me Before You.
(Camille Espiritu)
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