In recent years, there has been a huge rise in the number of book-to-movie and book-to-TV show adaptations. Some books that were turned into movies and shows since 2023 include Percy Jackson and the Olympians, It Ends With Us, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Wicked, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and many more. Book adaptations are generally a good thing because they bring more awareness to the story and the book itself; However, not all adaptations do the book justice.
With the steady decline in reading, adaptations have become more common as they try to get viewers interested in the story in other ways than reading the book. While they can get viewers to enjoy the story, the adaptations can also decrease the number of people who read the book in favor of just watching the movie/show. Furthermore, book adaptations leave the opportunity for the movie or show to have inaccuracies.
Here are my reviews of the new movies and shows that came out recently that are book adaptations. These reviews are based on ratings by critics like Rotten Tomatoes and also my own personal opinion.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: For the critic score, the first season got a 91% on the Tomatometer and a 79% on the Popcornmeter from Rotten Tomatoes. I have a little bit of favoritism as I grew up reading the books, so I wanted the show to do better than most viewers did. However, excluding my favoritism, I do think the show did a great job portraying the book with age-appropriate casting and an accurate plot line, exactly like what happened in the book. I think one reason it was so accurate was that Rick Riordan, the book’s author, played a huge role and had lots of say in the productions. He made sure it stayed true to the storyline.
It Ends With Us: The critic score from Rotten Tomatoes was 56%. The audience reviews had an average of 3.4 stars out of 5 stars based on 4,195 ratings. I, for one, was not entirely impressed with this movie. It was faster-paced than the book, and it was not accurate. For example, many people found that the main character was not portrayed how she was in the book. Her age and appearance were nothing like how it was in the book; I also think that the acting was subpar. Another reason I don’t like it is purely because of the storyline of both the book and the movie because it romanticizes domestic abuse and abusive relationships. These heavy themes are not accurately portrayed in either version of the story.
The Summer I Turned Pretty: Rotten Tomatoes rates it a 75%. Honestly, I liked the show better than I liked the books. The show is more interesting and engaging, whereas the book feels cringeworthy and fake. I liked how the show had better characterization than the book. For example, in the books, Taylor is a bad friend and not a good character as she oversteps Belly’s boundaries and is portrayed as the ‘mean girl,’ but in the show, she is characterized as a better person and a true friend where she would help Belly out when she was struggling.
Overall, I maintain my opinion that adaptations are a good thing. While sometimes adaptations do not execute the plot or characters properly, they are still a good thing. Adaptations should continue to be made because they make the story more known and bring in more viewers than the book alone will.