Ok, I don't know how many of you felt the same way I did, but I cried! I went to the movie thinking that there was know way that it was going to effect me like the book did, but it did, and I still cried! I will admit that there were some definite differences, like the fact that Jess never wore shoes when he ran and that Lesleigh was a very pretty girl in the movie and barely recognizable as a girl in the book. However, even though there were parts different from the book in the movie (which I have just come to the realization is bound to happen), I still got that warm, fuzzy feeling when I watched it.
The mother in the movie was very different from what I was use to in the book. In the book, I really could stand the mother. She was never as loving and kind as the movie mother. The one faught the movie mother seemed to have was the "shoe switch", and I think that that was just a misunderstanding about how boys at that age would not want to be caught dead in a pair of old girl sneakers. Jess's father in the movie was exactly as I had pictured him to be in the book, personality wise. However, in the movie, he did seem to show a bit more interest in Jess's paintings and drawings, or at least not to shun it so. Ms. Edmunds was perfect! The casting for that role was done well, though in the book it made her closer to Jess from the beginning of the story. I still wonder about Ms. Edmunds's personal life. How did a music teacher like herself end up teaching in a "hole-in-the-wall" town like Lark Creek? Was she married? Did she have any romantic attachments? Prince Terrien was a little disappointing, because I had always pictured him to be a Labrador or a Golden Retriever.
As I wrote before, the movie made me cry, and that is not something I typically do. I thought about it all the way home and into the next day, trying to devise a plan on how to take my third graders on an out-of-school field trip (after we've read the book of course).
Therefore, I give the movie three and a half stars!
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2 comments:
I made many of the same observations about the characters portrayed in the movie in relation to the book version. I agree with your comments about how the mother was depicted in the movie. She did seem much more personable and caring than what I had interpreted from the book. I believe that it was Patterson's intention to characterize the mother as cold, detached and unnurturing. This was done to help the reader sympathize with Jess's lack of affection from his mother. It made me understand the reasons for his feelings of isolation. The mother from the movie did not possess these qualities. She was portrayed in a manner that left me conceding that she was doing the best she could, considering all of the responsibilities and stresses she had with a large family and lack of sustainable income. Similarly, Jess's father from the movie also appeared as though he did try to do what he thought was best for the family. Although he was more affectionate and loving with Maybelle, I believe that the movie version developed his character in a way that revealed his complexities. I did not feel emotionally involved with the father from the book. I did, however, find myself more personally invested with the father from the movie. The actor chosen for this part was a suitable choice and I enjoyed the richness and complexitiy he brought to the role.
I agree with you about how different Jess' mother was in the movie. In the book, I questioned early on-- "What is up with his mom?" She seemed disconnected from the family and I had visions of her in a house dress laying on the couch all day and telling all the kids to go away. In the movie, she seemed loving, just stressed by money problems. While watching, I think I still had my mental representation of Jess in my head-- I held onto that but I think without having read the book first, my understanding for Jess' situation would have been different.
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