curiousillusion

First off… this review is completely spoiler free… so have no fear and read away!

So I went to see the movie “My Sister’s Keeper” with my mom today, a movie I had kind of looked forward to seeing since I heard it was being made.  I say kind of because I’m always hesitant when books I love turn into movies.. you never know what you’re going to get.  A while back I read that the ending had changed and I was a bit concerned: while I didn’t really like the ending in the book, I didn’t know if the new ending was going to be better.

Anyway, let’s talk about the movie without comparing it to the book.  It was a very heavy movie, very sad and I left pretty much feeling like I had been punched in the heart.  Few light moments or laughs, this was just pure depression.  My mom cried throughout the movie, but then again she’s been known to tear up easily.  I think twice I found myself a bit emotional but I didn’t cry.  I was too busy getting upset with how the movie was shaping up.  Now I accept that my view might be biased, but I thought the movie was poorly done.  The characters felt undeveloped, there were a few that were barely explained and you kind of wondered why they were there at all.  Plus there was a device in the movie, a scrapbook (not in the book) that basically kind of helped you figure out the whole “twist” so that it wasn’t a surprise anymore.  All in all, it was basically just a drain and I left feeling gutted.

Now, as someone who has read the book multiple times, I have plenty of thoughts about the way the book was adapted.  The main thing is the ending: not only was it changed, but I thought it was changed badly.  As I said, I wasn’t fond of the way the book ended but now, I really appreciate it.  The way this movie ended was awful, plain and simple – there really is no other way to put it.  But I wish that was all… they also omitted several major plot points: the guardian ad litum didn’t exist, the whole back story with the brother didn’t happen (which I thought was pretty significant) .  The lawyer’s story was rushed too, in the book I enjoyed reading about him but here you barely understand anything about him.  And, most importantly, the little nuances were left out, so you didn’t really get to see how the father and Anna bonded, how Anna was treated by her mother compared to her sister… basically the whole movie felt rushed (even though it also felt like it dragged on) so you didn’t really feel like there was any tension in the family, considering that the daughter is suing the parents.  Essentially, there’s very little about the book that made it to the movie, which is sad.  I thought it could have been done so much better.

I think maybe it’s time for me to pull out the book and give it another reread… make me feel better about the movie it somehow turned into.  That is, after I let my mom read it.

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