Rating of
1.5/4
Oh What Could've Been...
Amoeba Johnny - wrote on 03/15/14
When it comes to "book movies", I've learned to set the bar low. They're never how you imagine them, they take things out, etc. I understand they have to compress a 300+ page book into a 2 hour movie. And that's never easy.
I felt this movie tried to stray too far into Twilight territory. You have your dark, brooding male character who walks around wearing a hoodie (despite using a magic to make himself invisible) until we need to see his face for the lingering shots. The co-dependent female character (though not to the degree of Twilight), and a rag-tag group of throw-away supporting characters.
Which is disappointing because the story is pretty solid and could've stood on its own. The dialogue in the book was snappy and witty, none of that was present here. I couldn't tell if it was the fault of the script, or the actors/actresses delivering the lines. The supernatural bits, which gave the chance to shine with ingenuity and set itself apart, fell flat. Most of the things presented are generic, laughable, and ultimately forgettable.
Another thing that bothered me was the overuse for foreshadowing. The book never did this and you felt, surprised when you were supposed to (I know, weird concept). Here most the reveals were so telegraphed, they could've been written by Western Union. This seems to be a reoccurring problem in Hollywood nowadays. You're spoon fed all of this build-up, then cue the suspenseful music like, "Okay, here comes the surprise we've been talking about for 30 minutes!"
Maybe I'm being too harsh here and judging it from a reader standpoint. But even putting that aside, the movie falls flat in so many ways. I wasn't hoping for a direct adaptation of the book, but I was hoping for something better than the regular teenaged garbage that's been churned out.
Bottom line: This is a movie you put on as background noise when you're doing something else. Or if you're into the whole "Twilight" phenomenon.
