The Book Adaptation Tag 🎞

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles!

Most of the time, I don’t end up leaving posts in my drafts, but for some reason, I never got around to finishing this one…after I started it in December. Oops.

But I’m in the mood to do a book tag, so I figured I’d go ahead and trawl through the (many) book tags I have in my blog sticky note. I found this one over at Riddhi’s blog, Whispering Stories, and I was also tagged by Book It With Becca (thank you!). Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find who originally created the tag. If anybody knows, please let me know so I can credit them! I have lots of opinions about book adaptations, whether they be TV shows, movies, or otherwise, so this sounds like a lot of fun!

Let’s begin, shall we?

📚THE BOOK ADAPTATION TAG🎥

1. What is the last book adaptation movie you saw?

Not counting my re-watch of Fantastic Mr. Fox on New Year’s Eve, I think it might’ve been Dune! I loved both the book and the movie, and the cinematography and special effects were stunning. I went to see it with my brother and his friends for his birthday, and we all just stared at each other silently SCREAMING every single time the sandworm came on screen

2. What book movie are you most excited about?

This one isn’t a movie, but they announced last year that Warcross was going to be adapted for a TV series! Plus, it’s going to be on FX, the same streaming service that has Legion, Fargo, and What We Do in the Shadows!!

3. Which upcoming book movie will you definitely not see?

I’ve never been a fan of Sarah J. Maas, and I heard they’re making a TV show out of A Court of Thorns and Roses, so…nah. My mom and I agreed that we might hate-watch it together, though…

4. Which book movie would you never watch again?

I wouldn’t say that I would never watch Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (the 1994 one) again, but it certainly was…not great. Very weird. And not in a good way. Just…uncomfortable. At least Frankenstein’s monster was good in this one.

5. Is there a movie you saw that made you want to read the book if you had not yet?

Watching I’m Thinking of Ending Things on Netflix made me want to read the book, and I’m glad to say that both were incredible!

6. Conversely, is there a movie that made you never want to read the book?

I watched The Man Who Fell to Earth thinking it would be old sci-fi vibes and David Bowie, and…well, David Bowie was great, but the movie was 2.5-ish hours of pure discomfort. I’m not sure what kind of creative liberties that Nicolas Roeg took with the book, but either way, I don’t think I’ll be picking the book up.

7. Name an adaptation that has almost nothing to do with the book it is supposedly based on.

The movie version of How to Train Your Dragon is very different from the books—but in this case, the movies were better. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of them, but the most notable difference that I remember is Toothless—in the books, he was a lot smaller and could talk. I like movie Toothless a lot better, though; he reminds me of my cats.

8. Have you ever left the theatre during a movie adaptation because it was so bad?

I don’t think I’ve ever left the theatre during any movie, so that’s a no.

9. Do you prefer to watch the movie first, or read the book first?

Most of the time, I prefer to read the book first, but I’m human and make mistakes, so that barely ends up happening. Most of the time, I don’t even know that I’m watching an adaptation when I go into it (ex. I’m Thinking of Ending Things)

10. How do you feel about movie adaptations that age characters up? (ex. Characters that are in middle school, but in the movies, they’re all 18+)

The only example I can remember is the (highly forgettable) Percy Jackson movies, but it does rub me the wrong way when they age characters in a middle-grade adaptation up. Like Riddhi said—if they could find a bunch of fantastic child actors for Stranger Things, then what’s stopping everybody else?

11. Do you get angry when actors don’t look like you thought the characters would?

Most of the time I don’t—for me, it’s near impossible for actors to look super close to the image I had of the character in the book. But I’ll admit that I’m still seething over the fact that the Darkling in Shadow and Bone looked nothing how I imagined him. Not nearly as goth as he should’ve been.

12. Is there a movie you liked better than its book?

Even though I liked the original book, Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox is leagues better! He gives the story a new meaning, and all of the characters have so much more personality than they did in the book.

13. Name a book you would love to see as a movie.

I have a handful—I’d love to see adaptations of The Wide Starlight, The Young Elites, Illuminae, and Heart of Iron, to name a few.

I TAG:

• Phoenix @ Books With Wings
• Elli @ AceReader
• Hundreds & Thousands of Books
• Rachel @ A Bookworm’s Paradise
• + anyone else who wants to participate! If you see this tag and want to do it, I’d love to see your answers! If I tagged you and you don’t want to do it/have already done it, my bad!

Today’s song:

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of. your day, and take care of yourselves!