Book to Movie

This week I watched The Fault in Our Stars based off the novel by John Green. I read this book sophmore year right before the movie was supposed to come out, but never actually got to see the movie. The opening shot is an extreme close-up of Hazel, the main protagonist of the movie, and half part to the love story. Voice over is a lot of times poorly thrown into movies, but I think it was used well in the opening sequence getting a chance to use the exact words from the book. I enjoy the director's choice of the flow of the movie. There are awkward silences without background music, and everything is a bit choppy, and Hazel and Gus are makeupless and a bit bland, but it plays so well into the character of the novel. The storyline following two teenagers dealing with cancer is no where close to an everyday romcom one might expect. I was not a huge fan of the bubble's popping up on the screen portraying the texts between Hazel and Grace. I get they had to get across the communication and what they were saying was important, it kinda just took you out of the scene. Both Woodley and Elgort portray there characters perfectly. Hazel is a pessemistic girl, thinking she is smarter than the rest of her peers, while Gus is pretentious carrying a metaphor around with him wherever he goes. Also, I like Gus and all, but why would he put his friends through his own funeral I mean really. There was a nice use of slomotion and music when Hazel has to be rushed to the hospital because you connect with her since all the sounds are drowned out. Overall I thouroughly enjoyed the movie. I really enjoyed the book, and since the director did rely on Green's input a lot, the movie greatly portrayed what the book wanted to get across.
Rate: 6.5/10