But Did You Read it First?- Help!

Today, I have occasion to see the the movie version of Jeff Kinney's best-selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I'm doing so because I'll be seeing it with some individuals whose company I value highly.

Unfortunately, in doing so, I am violating on of my cardinal rules involving literary adaptations: I have yet to read the source material. I know, I know, I've heard nothing but great things about the series, but there are only so many hours in a day, and my stack of to be read books hovers around three feet tall.

So, gentle reader(s), I put forth the following plea: who can review either the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book or movie (or both) for the site? If it falls to me, it will be weeks, if not months before a review is ready. In the meantime, audience interests might have moved on to the next big thing.

Wait, A Link Post?

Yes, I know I'm not big on posting links to other sites (at least separate from larger posts), but I'm bogged down in at least three different reviews right now, and wanted to put this info out there before I forgot. It's incredibly exciting news, but readers of my "But Did You Read It First?" posts will know that I remain cautiously optimistic at best.

Squeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, Squeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! implies a bit more excitement than just cautious optimism, but it's just so fun to type.

But Did You Read It First?- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Welcome back to "But Did You Read It First?"- Anbaric Lights' quasi-regular (I might have to come up with another prefix that means even less often than quasi as there has been only one previous entry in the series, a review of Coraline from last February) column dealing with film adaptations of children's literature.

Wow, the entire preceding paragraph was one (admittedly parenthetically-enhanced) sentence. The fact that I occasionally get paid to teach tiny people to write boggles the mind. But that is neither her nor there. I'm already two paragraphs into the review and I haven't even mentioned the film yet. I really need to work on my meandering and often disorienting introductions to these reviews...

Before we go any farther, there are some assumptions. I assume that you are familiar with the Harryverse (Harry Potter Universe). I will not go into detail about describing the characters, and mild spoilers from previous entries in the series may be revealed. If you are not familiar with the events leading up to The Half Blood Prince (the sixth book and movie of the series), then you may not want to read any further.

Still with me? Good, let's have at it!

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint all return as Harry, Hermione, and Ron respectively. The rest of the cast is also back to in roles of varying sizes. The only new major addition to the series is Jim Broadbent as Professor Slughorn, the sixth Defense Against the Dark Arts professor the students have had in six years. David Yates (director of the previous installment, The Order of the Phoenix, and the forthcoming two movie adaptation of Book 7, The Deathly Hallows) returns as director.

The story should be relatively familiar with anyone still reading this post at this point. Harry has returned to Hogwarts for another year. Voldemort is back and Harry and Dumbledore are using the pensieve to investigate his childhood and career at Hogwarts. They realize that he has accomplished extraordinarily dark magic, through acts of murder he has divided and stored his soul in an object called a horcrux. Thus, even if the body is destroyed (as Vodermort's was the night he tried to kill Harry as a baby), the soul lives on and one is never really dead. The Half Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows both focus on the attempts of Harry and his allies to locate and destroy these horcruxes. There are seven in all, and it is revealed that Tom Riddle's diary from The Chamber of Secrets was a horcrux. Dumbledore also destroyed one (a ring that once belonged to Voldemort's grandfather), but injured his hand severely in the attempt.

Throughout the film, Harry is using a potions textbook that belongs to "The Half-Blood Prince," and as a result of the wisdom therein, he is rising to the top of his potions class. He even learns a septum severus spell that has unintended and deadly consequences in one scene in the film.

Ron and Hermione become involved in a love triangle with Lavender Brown, and it's refreshing to see that despite the gloom and doom of Voldemort's return, that the characters are still teenagers dealing with the same things that teenagers everywhere, magical or otherwise, deal with. Harry gets a romance of his own when his relationship with Ginny blossoms into something more than just friendship.

Draco Malfoy has been tasked by Voldemort with a deadly serious task. He is shown throughout the movie becoming increasingly drawn and desperate as he tries to maneuver his plan into place. Tom Felton, who hasn't had much to do with Draco in the previous films other than to sneer and serve as an obvious foil to Harry, does a solid job depicting Draco as a boy who may have bit off just a bit more than he can chew.

Throughout the tension and danger that Harry and his friends must deal with (Deatheater attacks! Fenrir Greyback! Curses, Hexes, and poisons!) is nicely balanced with humor (love potions, a eulogy for Aragog, Slughorn's habit of "collecting" promising students), and Yates and company set the stage for the final confrontation with Voldermort in The Deathly Hallows.

SERIOUS SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
DO NOT READ ON UNLESS YOU HAVE EITHER
SEEN THE FILM OR READ THE BOOK

My one main complaint is the film's climax. The battle at Hogwarts depicted in the book is violent, chaotic, and terrifying. Snape's apparent betrayal and murder of Dumbledore hits like a punch in the gut. This scene in the movie occurs as almost an afterthought, and as much as I love Alan Rickman's portrayal of Snape, he seemed to be far to obvious in his role in Dumbledore's death. I know Yates had to cut some of the book down in order to make it movie length (it still runs a good 2.5 hours!), but I do feel that these last scenes were where I felt the missing material most. I hope The Deathly Hallows begins with Dumbledore's Funeral, because that scene is beautiful and heartbreaking, and deserves to be shown.

All in all, it was yet another solid and dependable HP adaptation, and I am very excited to see the conclusion. Part I will be released in 2010, and Part II in 2011.

What did you think of the movie gentle reader(s)?

But Did You Read It First?- Coraline

Today I'm excited to introduce a new feature to Anbaric Lights. I know that the tagline is a book review for (and occasionally by) kids, but we're looking to spread a wings a bit here. But Did You Read It First? is going to address movie adaptations of popular children's books.

Literary adaptations are such tricky things, as we all have our own preconceived notions about the characters looks, accents, wardrobe etc... and rarely do they conform to what eventually makes it to the screen. However, if we see the the movie first, we can't help but picture the actors in our heads as we read. I'm a huge fan of personal and unique interpretations of stories, so I advocate (some would argue to the point of militancy) that reading precede viewing in every literary adaptation.

Like the publishing industry, the fantastic success of the Harry Potter films lead to an inordinate amount of adaptation rights purchased and rushed into production. Visions of enormous paydays and franchise potential lead to disappointing versions of Eragon, Series of Unfortunate Events, The Golden Compass, City of Ember, Bridge to Terebithia, City of Ember, Inkheart (perhaps soon to be tackled by our own Melody Houser soon, assuming her Inkheart book review ever gets finished) and many others soon followed.

I personally lost my taste for the movies after a so-so and defanged film version of The Golden Compass. However, I did have high hopes for Coraline, and thus it is the subject of this inaugural post.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaiman, and when I heard that he was adapting his delightfully creepy fairytale Coraline with stop motion animation genius Henry Selick of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach fame my appetite was considerably whetted.

First and foremost, the story: Coraline Jones moves with her family to the Pink Paradise Apartment complex (a converted Victorian mansion) presumably so her garden catalog author/editor parents can get some work done. Coraline has left her friends behind, and is clearly unhappy in her new environment. While wondering in the hills behind her new home she encounters Wybegone, who goes by Wybie, someone who seems very wanting in regard to the friends she's left behind.

The Pink Paradise is also inhabited by Mr. Bobinsky, a washed-up Russian acrobat who is training a mouse circus, and Ms. Forcible and Ms. Spink, two decidedly over the hill former stage actresses who spend their days with their with wads of taffy and innumerable schnauzers. As Coraline mopes about (everyone calls her Caroline) her parents are too consumed with their work to pay her any mind. They won't even let her play outside in the rain for fear of tracking mud into the house. Gardening author/editors indeed. Her father, in a fit of absent-minded, ill-advised and work-obsessed parenting skills gives Coraline a notebook and tells her to count all of the doors and windows in the house.

It is during one such accounting task that she finds a mysterious and tiny door hidden behind the wallpaper of their living room. Her mother, just to shut Coraline up, produces the key and opens it. The open the door only to find it bricked over. However, later that night Coraline returns to the door and finds a mysterious tunnel waiting for her. Upon traversing it she encounters a world very similar to her own.

Her parents are there but different. One, they have buttons for eyes, and two everything is better. The food is delicious, her parents are loving and attentive, her father has grown the garden to resemble her face, and the neighbors are considerably sprier and more entertaining than they were back in Coraline's world. No one calls her "Caroline," but did I mention that everyone has "BUTTONS FOR EYES!!!?"

At first everything is wonderful, but when the buttons, needle and thread are pulled out for Coraline herself, she realizes that things were better at her (real) home. What follows is her struggle to return home and defeat the evil and frankly terrifying machinations of her "other Mother."

Now, the look. Selnick has truly outdone himself with this one. The look of the whole film is gorgeous, but the other world is especially breathtaking. Bobinsky's mouse circus, the stage show performed by Forcible and Spink, the Garden, the horribly elongated and arachnid true form of the other mother, all rendered in gorgeous stop-motion animation and 3-D (be prepared to pay a little extra for the privilege).

Does it do the book justice? Most definitely. Fans of the book and neophytes alike will delight in Selnick's achievement in Coraline. To my devoted audience of readers (all almost several of you) I put forth the following request: let's look at forthcoming or recently released children's literature adaptations. Who wants to be the first guest blogger for But Did You Read It First?? Inkheart is still in theaters, and City of Ember just came out on DVD. Let me know what you are thinking, and there might be a trip to the movies on my dime in it for you...