I am actually not sure in which language I should write in this post. Of course it would be much easier to express my feeling and thoughts in Vietnamese but at the same time, it is not the language of both those books and films, therefore there is some kind of translation needed here, which might not express completely what I mean to say about them. So, let just write and see.

I have read the two books recently, properly to be exact, since I did start reading TFIOS times before but never finish it. And coincidentally, the two films that are made based upon those represent for a good and a bad example of books-turned-to-movies thing. And also I watched them both on today. (Note: I read the books first)

First, in case of Wonder, the book itself did impress me and you can learn more about in details in its own review post. And truthfully, I kind of disappointed watching the movie later. I understand that movies can never be as detailed as the book and it is inevitable to cut out some scenes/ details that will not affect the story much. But still, in this case, I personally think it does affect that much. First of all, it is Summer who chooses to sit with August at lunch at the beginning, not Jack. I think letting Summer go to sit with August after things with Jack happened to August is not fair since their roles are changed totally here. Summer is not the substitute.

Secondly, when August and his friends tries to escape from the seventh graders, it is Amos who leads and helps him to run all the way, not Jack again. And do not get me wrong here, I do like Jack-of-the-movie-version a lot. However, the movies is still supposed to show how other friends than Jack are helping August too, to describe the changes in other students when they treat August from the beginning to the end. Other details that need to be paid more attention are how Justin also stands for August when he meets his fifth-grade friends, how thoughtful the principal is to each of the students, etc. Overall, the movie did not impress me as much as the original book and personally had failed in delivering the complete message to its audience.

On the other hand, TFIOS movie version succeeded in making me cry while the book did not. In this case, I find both the book and the movie has its own way of impressing me. All those little adjustments in the movie are quite smoothly and reasonable, and most importantly that it does not change the character’s story or the relationships between characters. The producers sure had done a great job.

After all of these, I think I had made a right choice both time when I chose to read the books first and try my best to resist watching the movies when they were the hot topic. And there are some questions pop up in my head while I am writing this, that is: Why there is always the case that a book is turned into a movie but not the other way around? How will it be when a book is written based on a famous movie and the writers also add new details to make it longer or explained more as they pleased?

I found answer for the first question already. The most recent movie that was turned into a book is The Dark Knight (2008). So basically it has been 10 years now.

That’s all I have to say for now. And it would be great to get the answers/ recommendations for my other question.

V.V

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash