I was worried as I started watching it that I wouldn't be as affected by it as I was by the book. It all worked on me by the end of it though. I think the book did a lot more for Carson and the students and the movie did a lot more for his parents and April. ALLISON JANNEY WAS WONDERFUL. And Christina Hendricks - her side of the story was really missed in the book. So many different sides/themes were missed in the book, but the thoughts and build up in the book made the story feel longer. I think I would have liked the movie more if I hadn't had read the book because of that - I had different expectations for this movie, so it was a lot better on its second viewing.
Rebel Wilson, Sarah Hyland, and Ashley Rickards were great. Chris Colfer knocked it out of the park. Polly Bergen as Carson's grandma was amazing, as well. Angela Kinsey's character, the school counselor, was adorable and funny. Actually, the acting was pretty stellar all across the board, except for the one teacher at the beginning of the movie telling Carson what his essay was about. That was bad.
April and Sheryl were the best characters, and the best scenes were between Sheryl and Carson, in my opinion. The adult characters were written better and more fleshed out, which made the scenes with Carson's family on a different level than with the school scenes.
However, though the movie didn't have a lot on the kids Carson blackmailed, I prefer it to the book because the book had Carson too preachy to me when he apologized to the kids/gave them speeches/noticed Vicki cut herself/etc - things were spelled out too much. In the movie I loved that we weren't told how to feel about Carson or the other kids. He was shown as an unlikeable character (but I did really like him) and that his behavior towards his peers had consequences. Even if high school isn't forever, you still shouldn't treat that experience like it doesn't matter.
In the book, he and Malerie's relationship was better and he decided to listen to her more and be a better friend right before he died. He started to care about his peers instead of just looking down on them because they couldn't do what he could do. After he blows up at everyone when he tells them he's blackmailing them to enter his literary magazine, he turns around to talk to Malerie but realizes she had left too, like he couldn't stop himself from scaring her off, as well. I think having that scene in the movie would have helped Carson's character in the eyes of the viewer.
The revelation of Carson's positive energy in his death was more special to me in the book because it showed how he really changed and finally had a positive outlook on his life before he died. I'm sad Sheryl didn't say the line about how Carson was positive when he was struck in the movie, because that was the line that really made me love it and understand it. But this line was "the boy who flew" in the movie to me, so I still really loved how it ended. It still showed he had managed to accomplish things, and that he achieved his dream of getting into his college of choice even if he didn't get to go to it. The voice-over about needing dreams to take his time was very inspirational, and the last line before the credits with the rising music sealed the message.
It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was still pretty good. Watch it.
Rebel Wilson, Sarah Hyland, and Ashley Rickards were great. Chris Colfer knocked it out of the park. Polly Bergen as Carson's grandma was amazing, as well. Angela Kinsey's character, the school counselor, was adorable and funny. Actually, the acting was pretty stellar all across the board, except for the one teacher at the beginning of the movie telling Carson what his essay was about. That was bad.
April and Sheryl were the best characters, and the best scenes were between Sheryl and Carson, in my opinion. The adult characters were written better and more fleshed out, which made the scenes with Carson's family on a different level than with the school scenes.
However, though the movie didn't have a lot on the kids Carson blackmailed, I prefer it to the book because the book had Carson too preachy to me when he apologized to the kids/gave them speeches/noticed Vicki cut herself/etc - things were spelled out too much. In the movie I loved that we weren't told how to feel about Carson or the other kids. He was shown as an unlikeable character (but I did really like him) and that his behavior towards his peers had consequences. Even if high school isn't forever, you still shouldn't treat that experience like it doesn't matter.
In the book, he and Malerie's relationship was better and he decided to listen to her more and be a better friend right before he died. He started to care about his peers instead of just looking down on them because they couldn't do what he could do. After he blows up at everyone when he tells them he's blackmailing them to enter his literary magazine, he turns around to talk to Malerie but realizes she had left too, like he couldn't stop himself from scaring her off, as well. I think having that scene in the movie would have helped Carson's character in the eyes of the viewer.
The revelation of Carson's positive energy in his death was more special to me in the book because it showed how he really changed and finally had a positive outlook on his life before he died. I'm sad Sheryl didn't say the line about how Carson was positive when he was struck in the movie, because that was the line that really made me love it and understand it. But this line was "the boy who flew" in the movie to me, so I still really loved how it ended. It still showed he had managed to accomplish things, and that he achieved his dream of getting into his college of choice even if he didn't get to go to it. The voice-over about needing dreams to take his time was very inspirational, and the last line before the credits with the rising music sealed the message.
It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was still pretty good. Watch it.