Don't we all love it when Hollywood ruins yet *another* good book?
Please note that this review contains spoilers for both the book and the film.
Picture this - I was a little freak of a kid who practically worshipped these books aged around 11 or 12. I vaguely remember hearing about this film when it was first released, but, for some reason, opted not to watch it. And now, I finally have, and my feelings are mixed, to say the least.
Now, I think Tim Burton was a perfect fit for directing this film - his filmmaking style and the unsettling, gothic horror of the source novel would have meshed really well in theory. And the first two acts are excellent, apart from a few tweaks that took some getting used to (like the whole Emma-Olive switch). But my biggest grudge comes with the third act.
This film, previously composed of beautiful set pieces and minimally stylish visions of peculiarity, suddenly devolves into... CGI slendermen fighting skeletons. I s**t you not. Regarding the slendermen part, that was probably one of my major problems. In the source material, the hollows are truly a menace, as were their white-eyed counterparts, but here, you have, as I mentioned, bad Slenderman rip-offs. And Samuel L. Jackson was probably one of the least convincing villains I've seen for a while.
The entire climax was just terrible - the original ending was minimal, open-ended and packed with suspense. You'd think that in an industry so obsessed with sequels and reboots, they'd stick with the source material, which beautifully paved the way into three sequels. But nope - take some rushed CGI garbage instead!
I'm not saying that this is a bad movie in its own right - as I mentioned, the first two acts were really good, and I wish that it hadn't gone downhill during the third. I know I whined about some of the creative deviations from the book, but there actually were some good creative choices - the eye thing actually pleased me quite a lot, and I'm sure that people who have read the later books will agree with me. And Eva Greene's performance was absolutely excellent.
But unfortunately, this has killed all of my hope of ever getting a full trilogy (tetralogy, even), which really does annoy me, because that makes this yet another series from my adolescence that was ruined by Hollywood (yes, I'm looking at you, I Am Number Four and The Giver).
If you're a fan of the book, you might as well watch it for the first two acts, but I'd suggest the graphic novels instead (Yes, they exist, and they are beautiful. Trust me).
-Sasha.
Please note that this review contains spoilers for both the book and the film.
Picture this - I was a little freak of a kid who practically worshipped these books aged around 11 or 12. I vaguely remember hearing about this film when it was first released, but, for some reason, opted not to watch it. And now, I finally have, and my feelings are mixed, to say the least.
Now, I think Tim Burton was a perfect fit for directing this film - his filmmaking style and the unsettling, gothic horror of the source novel would have meshed really well in theory. And the first two acts are excellent, apart from a few tweaks that took some getting used to (like the whole Emma-Olive switch). But my biggest grudge comes with the third act.
This film, previously composed of beautiful set pieces and minimally stylish visions of peculiarity, suddenly devolves into... CGI slendermen fighting skeletons. I s**t you not. Regarding the slendermen part, that was probably one of my major problems. In the source material, the hollows are truly a menace, as were their white-eyed counterparts, but here, you have, as I mentioned, bad Slenderman rip-offs. And Samuel L. Jackson was probably one of the least convincing villains I've seen for a while.
The entire climax was just terrible - the original ending was minimal, open-ended and packed with suspense. You'd think that in an industry so obsessed with sequels and reboots, they'd stick with the source material, which beautifully paved the way into three sequels. But nope - take some rushed CGI garbage instead!
I'm not saying that this is a bad movie in its own right - as I mentioned, the first two acts were really good, and I wish that it hadn't gone downhill during the third. I know I whined about some of the creative deviations from the book, but there actually were some good creative choices - the eye thing actually pleased me quite a lot, and I'm sure that people who have read the later books will agree with me. And Eva Greene's performance was absolutely excellent.
But unfortunately, this has killed all of my hope of ever getting a full trilogy (tetralogy, even), which really does annoy me, because that makes this yet another series from my adolescence that was ruined by Hollywood (yes, I'm looking at you, I Am Number Four and The Giver).
If you're a fan of the book, you might as well watch it for the first two acts, but I'd suggest the graphic novels instead (Yes, they exist, and they are beautiful. Trust me).
-Sasha.