Books to Movies

The next Harry Potter movie was scheduled to be released last Fall. As we know, Disney chose to wait until July this year to release it planning to rake in more dough. When I heard the announcement, I was angry, even furious. I was ready for that movie. How dare they hold it back!

I love seeing books come to life on the big screen. Not many bring me to the theater the day of the release though. HP movies certainly do.

Adolescent lit books, including the HP series, have me in line for tickets early on when they are released. Among them: Hoot and Tuck Everlasting. In fact there are books out there I wish would be put on film. Hiaaisen’s Flush and Scat, Lowery’s trilogy of The Giver, Gathering Blue and Messenger and any of Robert Cormier’s books would top my lists.

Then there are the Khaled Hosseini books: The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns of which only Kite Runner has made its way on screen. I don’t know if I look forward to Suns being filmed. That story still haunts me. Don’t think I’ll be rushing out to see it if it does get filmed.

But one I have been waiting for a long time hit the cinemas today: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. His DaVinci Code was wonderful and very controversial when it was published. I didn’t know AAD was published first until I had finished reading Code. Either W or LA told me about it, so I rushed out and got the book. And I loved it.

When the announcement came on TV about the release of the film on May 15, I made sure I would have my ticket. I went straight from the elementary school (first graders today) to the ticket kiosk. I made the 4:30 showing--$7.75 ticket and $10.50 nachos and drink. Should have gone to the lady’s room first, but luckily I made it through.

What a treat! IMHO, Ron Howard has always done great work. And this time was no different. The storyline was spot on. The scenery and architecture and fountains/statues/obelisks and art and costumes made me feel as though I was right there in Vatican City as it all happened. The chambers and “tunnel” connection were believable. (The tunnel could have used some cobwebs or other dank material.) But the real treat was the fast paced action, especially the driving and shooting scenes.

If there was anything missing I guess I would say it was a stronger feeling of Hanks’ character’s knowledge of the Illuminati subject. It seemed to come through stronger in the book than on the screen. It reminded me of the same missing chemistry in Grisham's The Firm from book to movie.

Brown’s subject matter in these two books had me riveted to the stories. I was glad to learn he has another Robert Langdon story coming out in September, The Lost Symbol. I hope it is as good a read as the first two. And there are trailers out stating filming arrangements for Lost are in the final stages. Just let me know when it hits to screen.