Jurassic Park
This isn't usually my kind of book. I've read a handful of thrillers over the years, and I've never particularly enjoyed them. But I thought it would be fun to read the source material for a movie I love. To see what they changed and why.
It turns out they changed quite a bit. Though all of it made sense to me. Then again, that could be because I know the movie so well, love it so much, that I was primed to see all the changes they made as improvements on the story. Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book. But part of that enjoyment came from replaying the movie in my head while I was reading it and reveling in all the little differences.
The biggest thing I liked about the movie is that it switched the ages of the grandkids and gave Lex more to do. In the book, Tim is interested in computers and dinosaurs and Lex likes baseball and mostly exists to be an annoying kid. She has a couple of good moments, but the movie did well to give her the interest in computers so she could help save the day. The movie also made Dr Sattler older (she's 24 in the book), Hammond more affable (instead of a single-minded asshole), and Dr. Malcolm more tolerable (mostly by casting Jeff Goldblum to play him).
And of course, the movie streamlined the story, cutting out settings and plot points and combining characters. I liked the extra background and adventure in the book, and I especially liked the bigger focus on the breeding and escaping animals. But I don't think the movie lost much. They did a very good job of editing it down.
The one thing I liked better in the book, and this is maybe a bit weird, is that it killed more characters. I was actually shocked by the deaths of a couple of characters who survived the movie (and went on to appear in the sequels. It was nice to be surprised by something, and it also helped drive the danger home when some of the main group failed to make it off the island.
This still isn't really my kind of book. There's far too much technical exposition, which wasn't blended into the story particularly well. And I had a hard time tracking the point of view, which seemed to suddenly switch between characters with no warning when the plot demanded it. But the bones of it are good, which is why it made such an excellent movie.
It turns out they changed quite a bit. Though all of it made sense to me. Then again, that could be because I know the movie so well, love it so much, that I was primed to see all the changes they made as improvements on the story. Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book. But part of that enjoyment came from replaying the movie in my head while I was reading it and reveling in all the little differences.
The biggest thing I liked about the movie is that it switched the ages of the grandkids and gave Lex more to do. In the book, Tim is interested in computers and dinosaurs and Lex likes baseball and mostly exists to be an annoying kid. She has a couple of good moments, but the movie did well to give her the interest in computers so she could help save the day. The movie also made Dr Sattler older (she's 24 in the book), Hammond more affable (instead of a single-minded asshole), and Dr. Malcolm more tolerable (mostly by casting Jeff Goldblum to play him).
And of course, the movie streamlined the story, cutting out settings and plot points and combining characters. I liked the extra background and adventure in the book, and I especially liked the bigger focus on the breeding and escaping animals. But I don't think the movie lost much. They did a very good job of editing it down.
The one thing I liked better in the book, and this is maybe a bit weird, is that it killed more characters. I was actually shocked by the deaths of a couple of characters who survived the movie (and went on to appear in the sequels. It was nice to be surprised by something, and it also helped drive the danger home when some of the main group failed to make it off the island.
This still isn't really my kind of book. There's far too much technical exposition, which wasn't blended into the story particularly well. And I had a hard time tracking the point of view, which seemed to suddenly switch between characters with no warning when the plot demanded it. But the bones of it are good, which is why it made such an excellent movie.
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