Monday, May 4, 2009

Book VS Movie











How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a book my children at home and at school love. It tells the story of the Grinch, a fictional character living alone on a mountain overlooking Whoville. All the inhabitants of Whoville love Christmas, but the Grinch does not. He decides to steal Christmas from Whoville. A little girl named Cindy Lou catches the Grinch when he comes down her chimney dressed as Santa, but he steals her presents anyway. The Grinch manages to "steal" Christmas from Whoville, but his joy is shortlived. The Grinch finds that Christmas is not just about presents and food, it is about family.

The movie is the same storyline, but includes much more detail than the book. It explains why the Grinch is so angry and why he does not like Christmas. When he was a child, he looked different than the other children in Whoville and was teased. The teasing became worse when he told a girl he loved her, therefore, he moved up on the mountain to escape. Stealing Christmas was to be his revenge. Cindy Lou climbs to the top of the mountain and invites the Grinch down to a celebration (the same one he was humiliated at) and even though it is a disaster, there is a happy ending with all learning the true meaning of Christmas.













The Polar Express, a 1986 Caldecott winner, is an excellent book. It is not only well written, but the illustrations are fabulous. It tells the story of a young boy who is having a hard time believing in the magic of Christmas. He is chosen to take a journey by train to the North Pole. Upon arrival, he receives the first gift of Christmas from Santa and as a result, believes in Christmas magic.
There are many similarities and even more differences between the book and the movie. In order to make a movie out of the book, there were a lot of scenes added that are not found in the book. The scenes in the movie mocked the pictures in the book as did the characters. There was really nothing in the book that was not found in the movie. The boy did not sleep well, boarded the Polar Express and took an adventure to the North Pole. He received the first gift, which was a bell, lost it on the way home, then received it under the tree from Santa. This changed the boy's mind about Christmas. In the movie, there were many scenes added in the beginning that happened before material from the book. There were also extra characters such as the boy and girl on the train that were not introduced in the book. There was, of course, more dialogue in the movie than in the book.

I must say, I liked the book much more than the movie. The movie seemed to be drawn out. It was almost as though they added things just to get movie length.














Charlotte's Web is definitely a classic. E.B.White's book has been read and loved by many. When my daughter was in Kindergarten, 8 years ago, we went to the Children's Theater and saw the play. The children were thrilled! Their teachers read the book in the days prior to the play. The book and the movie were very similar. The movie and the book were the same as far as characters go. The same characters were in both. The events in the story were the same. Fern kept her father from killing Wilbur and when he got too large for her to take care of, they sent him to her Uncle Homer's barn where she could still see him. Wilbur finds that he will not be around to see winter and his friends Charlotte the spider and Templeton the rat help him find a way to be spared. Wilbur is saved, but Charlotte does not survive. Wilbur learns a lot about friendship.
The main difference between the movie and the book is the amount of dialogue between the animals. There is much more in the movie. This can be expected in order to make the movie more appealing and longer. There were other small differences in setting, but these were few and far between. Wilbur's escape was different in the movie than in the book.
Both the movie and the book are wonderful and I truly enjoyed both.







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