YA Book to Movie Franchises: Ranked!
I haven't been good about updating my blog much recently. I fell out of the habit, I suppose, while I was doing my first year of my PhD, and things have been crazy. So, I will try to grease the blogging wheels by bringing an old stand-by of mine: Lists and Ranking.
I don't know why, but today, the concept of YA film franchises popped into my head. I think I saw something about YA book series having been optioned or had its rights sold or something. But I then thought about it in the back of my head. And I decided to rank the YA film franchises (or attempts at franchises). Of course, if I haven't seen it/read it, it's not going in the list.
13. Eragon: This movie was plain and simply bad, and it doesn't help that the source material was generally uninspired. I still have to force myself to choke through the last few books of this series. The first book was endearing and charming, the second saw some potential even through Eragon's inflated elf training, but it all fell apart. And the movie managed to capture none of the charm, while capturing all of the recycled fantasy story lines.
12. Twilight: Again, the source material wasn't much help, but I hold this film franchise could have been better if they had taken the time to teach Kristen Stewart the complicated act of closing her mouth, and actually wrote some dialogue for the love scenes. Instead, they simply stare at each other for entire scenes.
11. The Mortal Instruments (Movie version): I have mixed feelings about this series, but this movie? I had no mixed feelings about that. It was bad. Badly casted, badly acted, badly adapted. The complex characters, the witty, witty dialogue and the worldbuilding are what made this book series worth its salt. But that was all gone in this movie, with some nods to the worldbuilding, characters turned flat, and bland-to-painful dialogue. It was misery to watch. Freeform has attempted CPR on this franchise by fully rebooting it into the Shadowhunters TV series. It also deviates from the books, but in a way I can respect, and after a limping first season while they tried to figure out their tone, it's off to the races in the second season. But the movie? Let's pretend it never happened.
10. The Mazerunner: I wanted this to be good. I really enjoyed these books, especially the first one. But the film makers wanted another Hunger Games, and they were going to have it by-golly. So, everything that made Mazerunner its own unique story and world and series? Throw that all out the window and make Hunger Games 2.0.
9. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: I can't explain how disappointed I was with this adaptation. I really enjoyed these books, and I thought that Tim Burton was the perfect director for its aesthetic. But, they just threw away the plots and off to the races we went.
8. Percy Jackson: I think about this movie and I just want to cry. I love this series. I love Rick Riordan's books more than J.K. Rowling's. For real. I think they're better. I know there will be disagreement with that, but that's how I feel. But these movies? None of the humor, none of the worldbuilding, none of the plot. In fact, I'm not sure what it was. The only thing they did right was casting Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson. That casting was genius. That was basically all the good.
7. Divergent: This had absolutely terrible source material, but did manage a cute little trick in that this movie series was actually better than the accompanying source material. By just chucking the plot out the window and making a new one, it was all well and good. At least until we forgot the good part of the end of the series and chucked that out as well.
6. Series of Unfortunate Events (movie version): A good attempt, but just not gathering the Gothic feel that made these books what they were. It was just missing a spark, and so they fell a little flat. I guess Netflix rebooted these, but I haven't seen them.
5. Hunger Games: There were some missing elements, but really I thought these were solid. The full political commentary of the books wasn't quite there, but they were entertaining and did their Hollywood jobs.
4. Ender's Game: I think we may have a common problem between Hunger Games and Ender's Game here: Hollywood wasn't actually smart enough to understand the political science of these books, let alone translate it onto the screen. But, in Ender's Game, they didn't even try to harness the political side of the book, and instead focused on the micro-scale human psychology of Ender alone, and for that, they put out a respectable movie.
3. Harry Potter: I know there are a lot of people who won't like being number 3. But I just can't say that every movie of Harry Potter had everything put together. There was some level of "throwing things onto a screen" by about the fourth movie. Unfortunately, some of this is because by the fifth book, there was some level of "throwing things onto a page," but we're not going to put it all on Rowling. That said, they told their story, entertained their people, and recouped their budgets like they were supposed to.
2. Chronicles of Narnia: I'm quite sad that these didn't go further. I know a lot of people disagree with me, but I found them perfectly charming, and they captured the spirit of their source material quite well.
1. Spiderwick Chronicles: Are you a little surprised to see this here in the number 1 slot? Fair enough, but this movie was uniquely able to bottle up the book series' heart while not making it bloated. In fact, unlike some other series, it didn't need to split the last book (looking at you, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, The Hobbit...), but put all five books into one cohesive, thoughtful and charming movie. Sure, the books were short to begin with, and The Iron Tree almost completely got the shaft, but it was still wholly impressive what they managed to make in this movie.
And there you have it. YA Book to Movie Franchises. Ranked!
I don't know why, but today, the concept of YA film franchises popped into my head. I think I saw something about YA book series having been optioned or had its rights sold or something. But I then thought about it in the back of my head. And I decided to rank the YA film franchises (or attempts at franchises). Of course, if I haven't seen it/read it, it's not going in the list.
13. Eragon: This movie was plain and simply bad, and it doesn't help that the source material was generally uninspired. I still have to force myself to choke through the last few books of this series. The first book was endearing and charming, the second saw some potential even through Eragon's inflated elf training, but it all fell apart. And the movie managed to capture none of the charm, while capturing all of the recycled fantasy story lines.
12. Twilight: Again, the source material wasn't much help, but I hold this film franchise could have been better if they had taken the time to teach Kristen Stewart the complicated act of closing her mouth, and actually wrote some dialogue for the love scenes. Instead, they simply stare at each other for entire scenes.
11. The Mortal Instruments (Movie version): I have mixed feelings about this series, but this movie? I had no mixed feelings about that. It was bad. Badly casted, badly acted, badly adapted. The complex characters, the witty, witty dialogue and the worldbuilding are what made this book series worth its salt. But that was all gone in this movie, with some nods to the worldbuilding, characters turned flat, and bland-to-painful dialogue. It was misery to watch. Freeform has attempted CPR on this franchise by fully rebooting it into the Shadowhunters TV series. It also deviates from the books, but in a way I can respect, and after a limping first season while they tried to figure out their tone, it's off to the races in the second season. But the movie? Let's pretend it never happened.
10. The Mazerunner: I wanted this to be good. I really enjoyed these books, especially the first one. But the film makers wanted another Hunger Games, and they were going to have it by-golly. So, everything that made Mazerunner its own unique story and world and series? Throw that all out the window and make Hunger Games 2.0.
9. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: I can't explain how disappointed I was with this adaptation. I really enjoyed these books, and I thought that Tim Burton was the perfect director for its aesthetic. But, they just threw away the plots and off to the races we went.
8. Percy Jackson: I think about this movie and I just want to cry. I love this series. I love Rick Riordan's books more than J.K. Rowling's. For real. I think they're better. I know there will be disagreement with that, but that's how I feel. But these movies? None of the humor, none of the worldbuilding, none of the plot. In fact, I'm not sure what it was. The only thing they did right was casting Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson. That casting was genius. That was basically all the good.
7. Divergent: This had absolutely terrible source material, but did manage a cute little trick in that this movie series was actually better than the accompanying source material. By just chucking the plot out the window and making a new one, it was all well and good. At least until we forgot the good part of the end of the series and chucked that out as well.
6. Series of Unfortunate Events (movie version): A good attempt, but just not gathering the Gothic feel that made these books what they were. It was just missing a spark, and so they fell a little flat. I guess Netflix rebooted these, but I haven't seen them.
5. Hunger Games: There were some missing elements, but really I thought these were solid. The full political commentary of the books wasn't quite there, but they were entertaining and did their Hollywood jobs.
4. Ender's Game: I think we may have a common problem between Hunger Games and Ender's Game here: Hollywood wasn't actually smart enough to understand the political science of these books, let alone translate it onto the screen. But, in Ender's Game, they didn't even try to harness the political side of the book, and instead focused on the micro-scale human psychology of Ender alone, and for that, they put out a respectable movie.
3. Harry Potter: I know there are a lot of people who won't like being number 3. But I just can't say that every movie of Harry Potter had everything put together. There was some level of "throwing things onto a screen" by about the fourth movie. Unfortunately, some of this is because by the fifth book, there was some level of "throwing things onto a page," but we're not going to put it all on Rowling. That said, they told their story, entertained their people, and recouped their budgets like they were supposed to.
2. Chronicles of Narnia: I'm quite sad that these didn't go further. I know a lot of people disagree with me, but I found them perfectly charming, and they captured the spirit of their source material quite well.
1. Spiderwick Chronicles: Are you a little surprised to see this here in the number 1 slot? Fair enough, but this movie was uniquely able to bottle up the book series' heart while not making it bloated. In fact, unlike some other series, it didn't need to split the last book (looking at you, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, The Hobbit...), but put all five books into one cohesive, thoughtful and charming movie. Sure, the books were short to begin with, and The Iron Tree almost completely got the shaft, but it was still wholly impressive what they managed to make in this movie.
And there you have it. YA Book to Movie Franchises. Ranked!
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