Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code
The Mom and I went to see "The Da Vinci Code" on Friday night. I have been looking forward to this night since I heard they were making a movie. I loved the book (although I think that "Angels & Demons" was better...), and was actually looking forward to the screen adaptation, which I never do. I rarely like movies based on books I have read. I haven't seen "The Chronicles of Narnia" because of that. Unfortunately, I probably should have stuck with that philosophy.
We both struggled with what it was about the movie that we didn't like, or were disappointed by. First, Tom Hanks was not the right man for the leading role...and the girl that played Sophie was about as deep as the plastic pool in my backyard when I was 4. But ignoring the bad acting...there was something else.
Then yesterday on our way to our Stillwater Day of Fun, we figured it out...everything that made the book so great was missing from the movie. The book left you with a great appreciation and yearning to learn more about the art involved...great descriptions of the pieces themselves and the history, and complicated unraveling of clues. The book was a story about the controversy in the Catholic church, and the story of how they got to the point that they were at in history. (YES...I know it's fiction...I'm just discussing what the book was about!) The movie skipped ALL of that. They barely showed the art, never talked about it, you barely noticed there were clues (unlike "National Treasure" which went into the clues in depth, and, which, now that I think about it - shared some characteristics of "The Da Vinci Code." I thought that some of the scenes seemed familiar, and now I know what they reminded me of - "National Treasure."). Instead of focusing on the story of the history, art, clues and Catholic Church...they focused on the story of two boring and strange characters.
So we came to the conclusion that if you hadn't read the book yet, you might enjoy the story that they movie tells. Although, it might drag on...it didn't because you kinda know what's happening next if you have read the book already.
Moral of "The Da Vinci Code" - movie version: if you haven't read the book yet, read it AFTER seeing the movie.
posted by Steph @ 4:25 PM
1 Comments:
I have to agree. It seemed as though Ron Howard was trying to hold the hand of non readers but keep things moving for the readers of DVC.
The last supper scene was cool but Howard was in a no win situation in this movie and Hanks was really dull in this movie.
Having said that I wouldn't say this movie is bad but no where near as cool as the book.
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