Hey guys, I'm Brittany. I'm really excited to be doing this book vs. movie comparison for A Monster Calls
for you today. I'm going to a do non-spoilery talk for about a minute, and then I'll get into my top 5 changes
and those will be spoilery, so obviously I'll let you know when those are coming.
For my thoughts on the book, I already did a full review which I will link down below. But I really loved the book!
I thought it was very strong young adult fiction, like, A+
So as far as film adaptations from books to film go, this movie stayed remarkably close to the book.
I was really surprised. So Patrick Ness, who wrote the book, also scripted the screenplay, but even then
Even with the author is the same person as the screenplay writer, it's not that common to see it that
close. There were entire scenes lifted from the book that were verbatim. I was like... "Oh wow"
I absolutely loved the book, so if you loved the book you're going to love this film.
I really liked it's whole vibe. It had this artsy - the color palette looked like it was run through a vintage
Instagram filters, like the gingham filter on Instagram
And there were times when I could tell that the camera was being hand-held it had a kind of vlog look to it
They made use of watercolor. The stories that the monster tells to Conor they did as watercolor.
And art - watercolor and drawing - is something that Conor and his mom did together. So I thought it was
really cool that the whole movie has this artsy theme to it. One last pitch before I get into my top 5 changes...
If you liked the book, I would definitely encourage you to see it because this is a smaller film
And if we want films of similar quality in the future, it's definitely important to come out and support them
So starting with number 5
They did the thing with the hands and the nightmare at the very beginning in like the first 30 seconds.
And I was really surprised because in the book, the content of Conor's nightmare is hidden from the reader
until the very end, and then they showed that really quick clip and I was like "Oh no, they did the thing!"
"the secret thing that you weren't really supposed to know about!"
It was so short that I don't know if people would have caught on? Because it came and went so quickly
But that was a change... Number 4
Speaking of Conor's nightmare, in the book there's a massive really scary monster in it, like way scarier
than the Yew tree, and so when the Yew tree monster shows up Conor is not phased, Conor's just like "phf"
"I've seen way worse than you, you sissy monster"
So that monster was taken out of the movie, although the monster isn't really the point of Conor's nightmare
So I can't say I missed the monster that much, though I was looking forward to seeing a really terrifying monster
But oh well, number three
They took Lily out of the movie! This is the only change that really bothered me between the book and the film
In the book, Lily is pretty much Conor's one and only friend at school. And he's mad at her.
And they have this strained relationship because Lily told people at school about Conor's mom
And Conor feels like if people didn't know about his mom then he wouldn't be getting all this weird pity,
he wouldn't be getting bullied, people wouldn't feel weird around him.
But what I really missed about Lily is that Lily kind of forces Conor to forgive
And there's a sense that Conor's going to go back to school after all this stuff with his mom is over
He's going to work things out with Lily and you kind of get the sense that he's going to be more okay
Like he's going to have something of a life, a friendship that will continue to grow
There's was kind of a piece of me at the end of the movie that was like...
Are you sure you're going to be okay buddy? You're going to have to go back to school and it's gonna be rough.
Number two, I loved that the movie added an epilogue
In the book, it just ends with Conor in the hospital
holding onto his mom. I did love that the movie added a scene with Conor living at his grandma's house.
He gets to live in his mom's old room. That was really touching, I liked that a lot.
Okay, and my number one change between the book and the movie,
is how the yew tree monster was presented to the audience as being real
So the monster goes to school with Conor and no one else can really see him
And he goes to the hospital. It's kind of weird. It's like Conor can kind of only see him, but in the book
after the monster visits Conor there's weird things that happen, like his bedroom floor is completely covered
in yew tree leaves, and the next time the floor is completely covered in yew tree berries
and then the next time there's this big like yew tree branch or tiny tree sticking out of floor
and he has to rip this yew tree out of the floor