The Book vs The Movie

I just got through reading "How to Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Cowell and absolutedly LOVED IT! It was a great story, excellent humor, a terrific read. And I know, I know, I am a middle-aged woman, but I LOVE Middle Grade. In fact one of the best things about being a Middle Grade writer is that I have a great excuse for reading so much MG. Anyway, this book was fantastic.

I also went to see the movie with my neices and nephew. I also LOVED IT. Darling movie, great animation, wonderful plot. Everything was amazing. I can't wait to see it again.

So here's the rub. Except for a few character names, locations, etc. the book and the movie seemed to have very little relation to each other. I was very puzzled by this. Mainly because the plot of the book was SO GOOD and would have made such a great movie, I'm not sure why Dreamworks decided to change the plot so drastically.

I've only read this first book in the series, so it's possible, that the movie is actually a compilation of several of the books, I don't know. I'm just glad I saw the movie first. There's nothing I hate more than reading a book that I love and then seeing the movie and it's so far off, I don't even recognize it. I usually hold off on reading books until after I've seen the movie for just that reason.

I mean some alterations for time I can understand. Like Harry Potter for instance, I've enjoyed all of those movies, even though they had to make necessary cuts for the sake of time. But this story would have fit into a 90 min format with very little alteration.

I loved both versions, just not sure why they changed so many things in the movie.