Belaura VanCraz
You know which side I'm going to take. Movies are nice little things for family get-togethers and conclusions to long days, but if they are based on a book, don't even bother. If a book is good enough to be made into a movie, the movie can only be a mere shadow of the genuine article. People see this over and over, yet they still prefer the easy way out.
And movies are the easy way. They provide a good synopsis of the book. But think of how much a trip to the theatre costs. It costs around eleven dollars (this is including snacks) to see a movie. You are paying for a summary, a mere taste of the real thing. The real thing, in its entirety, costs less than the summary.
Perhaps some clarity on why movies are only summaries. It would take me about a week (if not more) to read a book that would be displayed in two hours on screen. The moves cut description out, and they also practically redraw the story. The plot may be the same, the main character is unchanged, and perhaps even a few of the normal characters are there. However, the journey in the story is usually shortened, the character's thoughts and emotions are never displayed, and after a while, the foremost important principle in story-telling has been lost.
In the "good old days" (the really good old days) stories were told and retold. The story itself wasn't the important thing, but it was how the story was told that separated the renown minstrels, such as the great Homer, from the others who were never recorded. This should still be what is important. Any idiot can make a good storyline. You watch a bunch of other movies and combine ideas. It takes a real artist, however, to make these ideas sound professional. You just can't do much in a movie except tell the story in a bland, uncreative way that costs more money that any of us would care to think about.
There is something about animated children's movies that offends me. They take a good classic, change the character's personalities, add or subtract supporting characters where it suits them, make the story seem humorous, make the thing seem romantic at some points, and basically change the impressions of children to make them think that the movie is better. This, in the long run, can corrupt a child's reading forever. Maybe, in some cases, this is responsible for illiteracy.
