It's My Dad's Fault!

We went to see "Prince Caspian" the other night... *sigh*. It wasn't what I was hoping for... the first one was SOOOO good (by which I mean close to the original story) that I just assumed this one would be the same. (Apparently, the old adages about not assuming still hold true.)

Okay, wait. It was a good movie. It just wasn't close to the book, which meant that Dave alternated between shushing the giggly girls behind us who just thought the boys in the movie were cute, and shushing me when the storyline blatantly disregarded the actual story! The thing is, I understand that anytime you turn a book into a movie, certain elements will need to be adapted. (Except, apparently, the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice... FABULOUS!!!) My problem is when you cut out pieces that were actually in the book so that you have room for made-up scenes!!!

I was telling a friend about my disappointment with the movie and she asked if I'd read the book (I had) and how recently. When I said I'd read it sometime within the last year or two, she said "Oh, that's why you didn't like it." ... because I'd read it so recently and remembered the story. She was right, I know the story too well, and that was the trouble with the movie. Unfortunately for me, even if I hadn't read the book in the last couple of years, I would still have known the story too well. The very first time I encountered the Chronicles is when I was little and my dad read a chapter to us every night at bedtime. Since then, I've read time and time again ... and will continue to do so. Maybe I should hold off on my next re-reading until after they make all the movies... but I just heard that "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" isn't due out till 2010, and there are still 4 books after that... so all signs point to me NOT waiting to re-read until the movies are done.

Bottom line: it's my dad's fault. If he hadn't read the stories to us, I wouldn't have fallen in love with them and continued to read them. Consequently, I wouldn't be disappointed when the movies strayed from the books.

Thank you, Dad. :)