Every year I set a goal for myself to read a certain number of book and watch a certain number of movies. This year, my goal is 52 movies and 20 books.
For my first book AND movie – I chose Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. (Now, if the book technically counts towards my list since it is a children’s book is up for debate lol)
Usually I like to read books before I watch the movie, because then I get to make up in my head what all the characters look like, without having them skewed by whoever was cast (or created) for the movie. However this time I watched the movie first.
The next day I found a youtube video of someone reading the book so I was able to follow along (and it was also illustrated so I really wouldn’t have been able to picture my own characters!)
The two are VERY different. While the general idea is the same – food falling from the sky – the way it happens is different. I have to say, I enjoyed the movie more than the book, maybe because the movie had a bit more of a technical aspect to it that I tend to enjoy. (And I thought the police officer’s son, Cal, was adorable!)
I am not sure I would have felt the same way if I had read the book as a kid and it became a childhood favorite though. I can see why there were some people who loved the book who were not into the movie at all.
But, these kids books are short (like ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and ‘Polar Express’) So they do have to add in things to make it movie length and not just 10 minutes long, I guess.