The book belongs among the big classics, an easy read and hard to put away as soon as you open it up. It's a very calm and soothing tale that cures the reader just as much as the characters in the book, or at least that's how I felt when I read it.
As for the film it was inevitable for it to follow the book, because that's not how film productions works these days, for the filmmakers, they obviously wants as many as possible to see the film and for that to happen they have to grab their attention somehow, in this case with a three-act structure where there's a very dramatic end and also a lot more stakes with Mary having to leave the place because of misbehaviour. Oh, and then there's the actual garden that now seems to be magical and alive, branches helping Mary when she's climbing over the wall and also healing powers that cures the dog as well as Colin. I can see how that would anger fans of the book, because it's quite obviously not what the author had in mind with the garden but more like Colin being delusional, staying locked in his room all the time, believing that he was ill and not getting any fresh air.
So, having that said, the film should be seen for what it is and not what it could've been. It's really a visual film, the shots of Mary coming to her new room in her uncle's Manor, the long corridors that she explores and also the scenes on the moor, the film really made sure to be beautiful, which it is. As for the garden I was a bit taken away from the experience because of the enhanced plants and oversaturated colors, it didn't bother me too much and it also made sense when the filmmakers decided to make the garden magic instead of just secret.
I also love the soundtrack to this film. I've heard some composers saying that the best soundtrack is the one you don't notice in a film, but I don't agree, when a soundtrack is that good so you want to know who composed it and where to get it, that's when a soundtrack has done something special to me. I'm going to check up on Dario Marianelli's previous works.
I had no problem with the cast either, the children did a good job and Colin Firth is always good, whatever he does. There were times I was thinking that some of it worked better in the book than the film, but that's the curse of knowing the story it's based on.
To sum it all up, it's an okay adaptation with a couple of changes to make it more dramatic and with more fantastical visuals. It would've made more sense to call it The Magic Garden, but that's not how it works in the film industry when you adapt a book to a film.
As for the film it was inevitable for it to follow the book, because that's not how film productions works these days, for the filmmakers, they obviously wants as many as possible to see the film and for that to happen they have to grab their attention somehow, in this case with a three-act structure where there's a very dramatic end and also a lot more stakes with Mary having to leave the place because of misbehaviour. Oh, and then there's the actual garden that now seems to be magical and alive, branches helping Mary when she's climbing over the wall and also healing powers that cures the dog as well as Colin. I can see how that would anger fans of the book, because it's quite obviously not what the author had in mind with the garden but more like Colin being delusional, staying locked in his room all the time, believing that he was ill and not getting any fresh air.
So, having that said, the film should be seen for what it is and not what it could've been. It's really a visual film, the shots of Mary coming to her new room in her uncle's Manor, the long corridors that she explores and also the scenes on the moor, the film really made sure to be beautiful, which it is. As for the garden I was a bit taken away from the experience because of the enhanced plants and oversaturated colors, it didn't bother me too much and it also made sense when the filmmakers decided to make the garden magic instead of just secret.
I also love the soundtrack to this film. I've heard some composers saying that the best soundtrack is the one you don't notice in a film, but I don't agree, when a soundtrack is that good so you want to know who composed it and where to get it, that's when a soundtrack has done something special to me. I'm going to check up on Dario Marianelli's previous works.
I had no problem with the cast either, the children did a good job and Colin Firth is always good, whatever he does. There were times I was thinking that some of it worked better in the book than the film, but that's the curse of knowing the story it's based on.
To sum it all up, it's an okay adaptation with a couple of changes to make it more dramatic and with more fantastical visuals. It would've made more sense to call it The Magic Garden, but that's not how it works in the film industry when you adapt a book to a film.