This is a weekly meme that I am hosting here at Reviews from a Bookworm. To take part all you have to do is share a movie review once a week, link back to Reviews from a Bookworm and add your link to the linky tool.
This weeks movie review will be for:
If I Stay
I really loved the book, so I was apprehensive about seeing the film. It's almost always guaranteed that what you about to watch is not going to do justice to the book you love. Sadly, that's very true for If I Stay. It's not a horrifically awful movie, but it's not an exceptionally good one either. It suffers from far too many cheesy moments, making it more about the romance than anything else and not capturing all the feelings you get from the book.
The movie follows the book quite well, it has small changes but not too many. It leaves a lot out though, which did upset me. It still all revolves around Mia and her out of body experience after being in a car accident. She watches as her body is taken to the hospital, as her family gather around to see if she'll wake up. But that decision is up to Mia, and it's a hard one to make. The accident steals a lot from her, so deciding to stay is a lot harder than you would think. Mia doesn't know if she's strong enough to do it.
The movie did squeeze a few tears from me, but it wasn't the uncontrollable sobbing that I got from the book. That was for a few reasons. The main one being that the movie concentrates way more on Mia's relationship with Adam, then it does on her relationship with her family. I loved getting to know her mother, father and brother in the book. I fell in love with those characters so much. You do get to know them in the movie, but it's not the same. I felt Teddy was a character that was really forgotten about when it came to adapting the novel, which is a real shame.
My main issue with the movie was just how unimaginably cheesy it was. I could not stop cringing whilst watching it. The romantic aspects to it were just too much, too over the top and I couldn't handle it. I am not good with overly romantic scenes in books and movies, I just can't handle them. This movie had so many between Mia and Adam, it all got a bit too much for me. I also laughed a lot at their scenes together, I don't think that's what they were trying to get me to feel. The movie definitely could have done without all the walking toward the light aspects, they were just too much. I openly cringed and groaned at so much of this movie, it's never good when a movie is a little too painful to watch.
I love Chloe Grace Moretz, I think she's a really talented actress. Unfortunately, I don't think she's the best casting choice for Mia. I didn't believe her as Mia at all. She just isn't able to pull of the shy, quiet girl who needs to be brought out of her shell. She's just a little too put together for that, even when she's playing the shy, retiring type. I really did want to love her as Mia, but I don't think she's suited to the role at all. I thought Jamie Blackley was quite good as Adam, but he wasn't really what I had imagined either. I think he was better cast than Moretz though. The one casting choice, other than Mia's parents, that I really applaud is Liana Liberato as Mia's best friend Kim, she played that role so well and was completely believable.
Mia's parents steal the show in the film, the same as they did in the movie. I just adored them both and absolutely loved the casting choices. I wouldn't change anything about their portrayals, I thought they did a perfect job and were just as I had imagined Mia's parents to be. They are the right amount of laid back, caring, loving and cool. They treat their children like adults a lot of the time, I loved the parents sense of humour and how they joked around with Teddy and Mia. It was just like the book, and I was so happy they captured the parents so perfectly.
What I really, really did enjoy about the movie, was the cello. I fell in love with the cello in this movie, and also realised just how often cellos appear in some of my favourite songs. I have this movie to thank for suddenly making me obsessed with the cello and how beautiful it sounds. And also to appreciate just how hard it must be to play.
I would have enjoyed the film a lot more if they had put more emphasis on family, and how hard it would be to say goodbye to them. I just felt like this movie was overpowered by the romance between Adam and Mia, and I wasn't a fan of that. They really smothered on the cheese, and I don't handle cheese well. So I spent a lot of this movie groaning, eye-rolling and having to look away from the screen. I wanted it to be more about Mia and her relationship with her mum, her dad and Teddy. Poor Teddy, we barely get to know him at all. It's such a shame, considering how brilliant a character he was in the books.
6/10 Butterflies
Far too much cheese for me to be able to handle. Wish they hadn't focused so much on Mia and Adam's relationship because it stops you getting to really know and love her family. I feel that the concentration on the romance aspect takes away from just how big a decision Mia has to make. It doesn't do justice to everything she's lost or would be losing. I thought it was okay, but it didn't do the book justice and it isn't something I'd want to watch again.
I have been meaning to take part in both of the following memes for a while now, so its nice to finally be able to get to them. I will be taking part in Reading is Fun Again's Thoughtful Thursday and Okay, Let's Read's Thursday Thoughts, picking between them or doing both topics each week.
Audiobooks
Do you listen to audiobooks/Have you listened to an audiobook in the past? What books? Do you enjoy audiobooks? Why or why not? Are there certain genres that you feel might lend themselves better to being read in an audiobook form?
I have never listened to an audiobook, not one. I don't even know why. I love reading, I love the feel of a book in my hands. I just don't feel like listening to a book would be the same. I have been tempted to try audiobooks, I've just never gotten round to it. If I was going to start, it would probably be with Harry Potter. The ones that are read by Stephen Fry, just because it's combining two of my favourite things: Fry and Potter!
Bad Reviews
If you are planning to read a book, do bad reviews sway you to avoid the book?
They can, it depends on the reviewers reasons for not liking the book. It also depends on whether we have similar tastes. But, I know that everyone has different opinions on books. One I think it worthy of 0/5, someone else would rave about it and think it was the best thing they'd ever read. And vice versa. It would probably only sway me if it was a book I wasn't too fussed about reading. If it's a book I am desperate to read then I don't care how many negative reviews it has.
Five Friday Favourites: Favourite Book to Movie Adaptations
My Weekly Book Haul: 30/08/2014
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson: 3/5 Review
Discussion: Why Insta-Love Instantly Turns Me Off A Book
Monthly Recap: August
Top Ten Tuesday: Characters That Would Be At My Lunch Table
Red Rising by Pierce Brown: 4.5/5 Review
If I Stay by Gayle Forman: 5/5 Review