Book vs Movie: Paper Towns
Paper Towns was just recently released in theaters and I was so excited to see it. I had been waiting MONTHS for it's release. I had already heard from friends about how amazing it was, and when I saw it with my own eyes, it did not disappoint!
I thought it was such a great movie. It's hard to compare it to The Fault in Our Stars (both the book and movie) because both stories are such a close tie at being my favorite John Green books. I was worried that Paper Towns would be absolutely horrible. It always scares me when books are being made into movies because I don't want them to not do the books justice. But I thought Paper Towns was a wonderful adaptation.
Here's what I loved:
1) I loved the casting. Cara makes a very good Margo because of her unique look that I think really portrays Margo's mysterious, adventurous and carefree personality. Nat is a very good Quentin because he's the perfect combo of nerdy and cute! Radar and Ben are absolutely hilarious characters. I never really paid much attention/didn't remember much about them from the book, so when I watched the movie, I really got to know them better and I loved them because they were SO hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing everytime the three of them were together.
2) The script is genuis. It's so comedic, my sides hurt from laughing. All of the character's personalities really shine through. And the actors did such a good job with speaking and acting out the lines. It felt so natural. Especially the banter with the guys. The writers really did a good job in creating dialogue that's realistic to how a bunch of guys would interact and tease each other.
3) THE MUSIC. Ths soundtrack to this movie is gold. I downloaded it right when I got home. It's the perfect playlist for a road trip adventure. It's got that floaty, airy feel. It's upbeat and relaxing. I'll be listening to it nonstop for a while.
Changes I didn't quite enjoy (SPOILERS):
1) I'm sad that they didn't go to Sea World. That was the best part about that night.
2) The didn't talk much about the dead man they found, like they did in the book. I thought there was a lot of deep stuff about that moment that was talked about in the book and I wish it was brought up in the movie.
3) I was very upset when Angela (Radar's gf) went on the road trip with them. She was so irrelevant and I felt like she ruined the whole group dynamic by going with them.
4) The leave and come back in time for Prom when in the book, Prom already passed and they leave for NY right after graduation.
4) The whole ending was different. When they got to the barn, Margo wasn't there. Then his friends just left him because he refused to leave. I wasn't sure how I felt about this. On one hand, I liked how in the book they got to the end of the trail and succeeded in finding her. But I also kind of like that, in the movie, they don't find her, and the Q finds her as he's about to give up and go home.
5) In the book, they have this big romantic night/scene that's absent in the movie, although they do kiss.
Even though there were some major changes to the ending of the movie, I still felt like it was a solid movie. If I hadn't of read the book, I wouldn't have cared about the ending at all because it was a great movie. But because I know what was different, it makes me feel a little conflicted about it. But nonetheless, it was an incredible movie that was worth the long wait.
