I talked about the Where Wild Things Are movie yesterday and I guess I’m still stewing it over in my mind a little. Maybe part of the problem was that the book was fresh in my mind. I had just reread it a week or so beforehand and I could remember every little piece of it. It’s a classic childrens story and the movie obviously had to add more, just to fill the time allotted.

inkheart-poster-fraserDavid, Amber (9) and I watched Inkheart (PG) on DVD last week and we all really enjoyed it. It had adventure and action, fantasy creatures and people with amazing gifts. It’s all about the power of the written word.

Mo and his daughter, Meggie, share a passion for books. What they also share is an extraordinary gift for bringing characters from books to life when they read aloud. But there is a danger: when a character is brought to life from a book, a real person disappears into its pages.

On one of their trips to a secondhand book shop, Mo finds Inkheart, a book filled with illustrations of medieval castles and strange creatures—a book he’s been searching for since Meggie was three years old, when her mother, Resa, vanished into its world.

But Mo’s plan to use the book to find and rescue Resa is thwarted when
Capricorn, the evil villain of Inkheart, kidnaps Meggie. Determined to rescue his daughter and send the fictional characters back where they belong, Mo assembles a small group of friends and family—some from the real world, some from the pages of books—and embarks on a daring and perilous journey to set things right.

I read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke a couple of years ago and I think that separation helped me like the movie more. I remember loving the book, but not any of the details. I couldn’t tell you where the book and movie differed or where they were exactly the same, so I could enjoy the movie for what it was, a good story. Granted, you just have to accept what happens in the movie, not ask too many questions, because that would ruin the magic. Overall, it’s a great family movie, light and fun. The bad guys are scary, but not too much, and the good guys are loyal. My favorite character had to be Dustfinger, though, who was just trying to do the best he could for himself. He stole the movie, in my opinion.

8 Comments

  • I read the book this spring and absolutely LOVED Inkheart — couldn’t finish Inkspell though. I didn’t realize the movie was available on DVD already. I am anxious to view it and see how it compares to the book.

  • I’m almost always disappointed when I watch a movie that is simply a retelling of a good book. The two mediums are different; what works in a book often won’t work on the big screen. For me it seems to work better if the movie makers take the basic book ideas and go with it, not trying to stay too close to the book. For Where the Wild Things Are, my fear is the opposite; that there is so little from the book to fill a feature length movie the producers will stray too far. I’m not sure I want to see the movie.

  • The movie is good if readers have not read the book. If they did, they’ll notice about 90% of the storyline in the movie deviates from the book. I was quite worked up about it because I just had to ensure I finished the book before watching the movie and oh boy, was I disappointed with it…

    But still, I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😀

  • Serena and I were lucky to snag premiere tickets from a colleague who’s a movie reviewer. Unfortunately, the theater was packed and we had to see in the front. But The Girl absolutely loved the movie. She didn’t take her eyes off the screen once, and afterward, we bought the books. I hope we get a chance to read them together soon.

    Glad you all enjoyed the movie. I liked Dustfinger, too.

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