Ready Play One
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Based on the novel by Ernest Cline
If you missed it, check out my review of the Audiobook (I loved it)
Initial Thoughts:
1. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
2. It wasn’t anywhere close to the book!
3. I still liked it?
Review:
I know what your thinking – How can I like the movie if it is nothing like the book? Honestly? I am not sure myself. I am super conflicted! I feel like I should dislike the movie, but I just can’t find it in my heart to hate it. Don’t get me wrong, the book is waaaay better, but I still liked the movie.
I went in with low expectations, which helped. The movie trailer prominently featured a car race that didn’t exist in the book. There was also Iron Giant and Chucky, both of which I am fairly certain weren’t in the book (or at least weren’t big enough to warrant a spot in the trailer). So I knew from the get-go that they changed a lot of stuff. It makes sense that they had to change some stuff because there was so many obscure references in the book that it would be impossible to include them all. But I thought they would just pick and choose from the references in the book not choose completely new pop culture references.
They didn’t just change the references they changed some major plot points. I can’t go into more detail without spoiling anything, but I was surprised by the changes they made. Some worked and some didn’t. I had more issues with this than with them changing the references used. Plus there was some parts that I don’t think I would have understood if I hadn’t read the book? I am not sure someone with no background knowledge would have understood?
While the Oasis was not what I imagined, I thought they did the real world perfectly. The Stacks were exactly how I pictured them. Plus I really liked the cast for all the characters except Aech. (There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with the acting, it just wasn’t how I pictured it.) I really really liked the actor they got for Parzival. He did a great job of being cute, nerdy, and bad a$$ all wrapped up in one.
Rating:
I am going to have to give this two ratings because I can’t reconcile my three initial thoughts into one.
Rating as an adaption of the book: * (1 out of 5)
Rating as a stand alone movie: **** (4 out of 5)
Basically it was a good movie, but it didn’t follow the book so I can’t give it a good rating!
Have you seen the movie? Read the book? Both? What are your thoughts? (On the book, or the movie, or the trailer, or the book vs the movie, or anything?)
Please tell me I am not the only one who still liked it despite it being such a bad adaptation?!?!?!
Perfectly Tolerable 
Oh. my. god. Your review is spot on. Saw it last night. It is definitely not the book, but it was still good, I think because the end game was still the same and the author helped write the screenplay the essence was still there.
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Whew! I’m glad you agree 😀 and Thanks! I didn’t realize that the author helped write it, but that makes sense! And that is a great way to put it: “The essence was still there” 😀 I wonder if the author liked all the changes or fought against them?
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A lot of fun. Nice review.
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Thanks!
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Nice review, and love the GIF’s especially at the beginning. I think they kinda summarize your review well? I am a little surprised though that they changed it maybe to the point where- if you haven’t read the book- it might not be completely clear? That could be a problem. Oh well I’ll probably see it, and good to know it’s not bad considering the changes they made!
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Thanks! The gifs help me get the tone right when I am not sure it comes across in my writing!
Since I read the books, I cant say for sure, it wouldn’t make sense, so don’t put too much stock into that. Maybe the parts I am thinking of wouldn’t matter to someone who hadn’t read the book? I would be curious to see a review by someone who hasn’t read it!
I hope you watch it! I think it was worth it 😀
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Seriously?! It wasn’t like the book??? I’m going with my Bookclub because it was our read last month
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It kept the general idea but it changed up a decent amount. I hope you like it!
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Hmmm I guess I’ll soon find out if I like it
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I could tell from the previews that it was going to be a poor adaptation so thanks for confirming it. I’m still going to go see if even if I did love the book and would have liked to see the book come to life. Thanks for the review.
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I went into the movie with very low expectations based off of the previews, and I think that helped. If I went in expecting a good adaptation I would have been super disappointed. I am glad you are still going to watch it 🙂
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Ok, so now I am conflicted about seeing the movie. I loved the book, and I knew Spielberg couldn’t possibly do it justice, but I was hopeful? Glad to hear that it was good, just not faithful to the book. Maybe it will make people want to read the book? ACK! Guess I will wait now till it comes out on Netflix.
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Don’t let my review stop you from seeing it! I’m just one random person haha. Just don’t watch it with super high expectations and you might be pleasantly surprised? I hope it makes people want to read the book! It was a really really good book 😀
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I had a similar experience. I knew that some things would not work well in film, but I was surprised, at first, by how much they changed. But then I thought about it and wondered if that wasn’t actually a good thing. Some things work better in text than on the screen, and in some ways, would I really want to watch a story that I already knew so well?
I think there’s a very interesting question there. So often fans cry out that the movie didn’t follow the book, but why do we want that? Haven’t we already done that using our own imaginations?
I think the real issue is whether the movie differentiates itself enough.
For example, I also watched the more recent Jumanji film, and that was so different from the original film, and the book, that comparison made no sense, and in some ways I think that level of departure frees audiences to enjoy the movie for what it is, without being reminded of what it’s not.
Of course, I’m still pondering. We’ll see what I think in a month or two.
Thanks for sharing. Having recently watched the movie myself, I was hungry to see what others had thought of it. I went with friends, but most were not in the market for this level of conversation, so it’s very nice to hope on wordpress and find other enthusiasts.
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Those are some interesting thoughts, but I think I disagree. You asked “would I really want to watch a story that I already knew so well” and my rebuttal is: do you watch your favorite movies over and over again? I rarely ever re-read books because it takes so long, but I can spare a couple hours to re-watch a favorite movie. When I watch a movie adaptation of a book I want to be able to re-live the story as it was when I read it. And then I want to be able to watch it over and over again. I want the story brought to life so that I can re-experience it in a fraction of the time.
But on the other side of the coin, I loved the Star Wars re-boot and think that they did a great job of making a new story line and differentiating from the original stories to bring us something new we can just enjoy. Thats a different argument completely but I agree that sometimes its good when a new movie differentiates, I just don’t like it in my book adaptations 😀
As for some things working better in text than on screen I completely agree. I don’t have a problem with them changing the references used because there was no good way to explain all the details, but I don’t think they needed to change the story line itself as much as they did.
Thanks for responding!!! I was also super hungry for some in depth conversation on this and blogs are such a great tool for that!!! I don’t have any friends irl that have seen the movie yet, so I couldn’t even get a non-blogger opinion at all haha.
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That’s fair.
I think there’s also a way in which, when it’s done right, people don’t worry about fidelity as much.
In this case I felt like I got to enjoy two stories that captured the same style and tone, but I can see your point.
It is nice how blogging allow us this opportunity. As stories become more numerous it does become a challenge finding friends who have also seen or read a story you want to discuss.
And I really appreciate how much effort you put into your reply. Thank you.
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Thats why I had to give the movie two ratings! On its own I realize the movie was pretty good, but it just wasn’t close enough to the book to be completely satisfied! I left the movie theater very confused if I liked it or not haha. And you hit the nail on the head, everything can be good when its done right 😀
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Nope, you are certainly not alone. If I ignore the book entirely, then on its own, RPO was a pretty good movie. But because of all of the licensing issues and such, they ended up changing too much for me to consider it anywhere close to a good adaptation.
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I wondered how the licensing worked and if they had issues with that, but I was too lazy to actually try and find out 😂 Good to know! Thanks 🙂
I didn’t have a problem with the reference changes, especially if they were because of licensing issues, but they changed too much of the main plot that I can’t consider it a good adaptation!
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I love that you rate it on different scales!
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Thanks! I had never done that before but it was necessary for this one and I might continue it in the future!
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Yes! I think it’s fair for people who aren’t huge readers.
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