*SPOILERS PRESENT*
John Green happens to be one of my favorite authors. I found out about his work a few years back and since then have read The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking For Alaska (which is my favorite), and have attempted to read An Abundance of Katherines, which at some point I will finish. I have watched almost every vlogbrothers video, read Esther Earl's This Star Won't Go Out, celebrate Esther Day, live by the moto of DFTBA, seen TFiOS and now Paper Towns in theaters, and done everything I can to be a part of Nerdfighteria.
Just after I read Paper Towns, maybe a few weeks later, I found out that it was going to be made into a movie starring Nat Wolff, my very first celebrety crush from his Naked Brother's Band days.
I was so excited that I screamed, found my stepmom, and forced the book into her hands. She read it, loved it, and we saw the movie together today.
First off, Nat was amazing! I loved how he portrayed Isaac in TFiOS where he had few lines, but seeing him as the star solidified how incredible he is. He got the awkwardness yet strange bouts of confidence just right.
Secondly, Cara's American accent was on point. There were times where I could hear the British coming out, but that's to be expected and wasn't horribly noticeable and maybe it was just me, which is very likely. I wish there were a bit more Margo lines because I feel like the book had so much more of her character that was really needed to empathize with Margo in the movie. That made it much harder for me to like Margo in the film whereas in the book I liked her because we heard more of her thoughts, her commentary, and you could really imagine the hell that was being trapped within your own brain, with all of the characters.
Plus who else could pull of those eyebrows? I wish I could. And her facial expressions = GREAT!!!
Radar, Ben, Lacey, and Angela were all how I imagined them. I loved the friendships betweeen Radar, Ben, and Q (especially the party scene and the BEER CAN SWORD). I also really liked that Lacey went on the road trip with them. And I loved that Angela and Radar's relationship was so adorable.
Now comes the criticism. I didn't really like how they put the road trip before prom instead of after graduation. One of the best parts of the road trip in the book was them being naked underneath their cap and gowns and being uncomfortable. I also hated how their was the time crunch to get back before prom which caused tension between Radar and Ben with Q. And it threw off the ending as well. In the book, because school is over, the gang waits for Q while he talks to an at first angry Margo. And it ends with them saying that they would see each other next summer and to keep in touch. Whereas in the movie it ends with Q meeting up with the boys to part ways (Radar giving them Black Santas) and Q not knowing where or how Margo is and also seeming to not care so much either. That really bothered me.
I loved the book. And I liked the movie. I feel that if I hadn't read the book then I would have LOVED the movie but because I have it was really only likable in comparison. I would watch it again but I was still disappointed in some of the changes. And really the only thing that caused that disappointment was the time change of the road trip.
BY THE WAY, the van's collision with the cow was still my favorite part, just like the book.
Any way I love John Green and can not wait for the movie adaption of Looking For Alaska.