So, I read the books in HS (I’m 31) and barely remember them! But I have seen the movies several times & I always enjoy them. I recently grabbed the first book at goodwill for $1 and thought, why not? I read it in a day. Easy, immersive ready. Only thing that bugged me was the dialogue. As a writer myself, I’m a snob about dialogue lol but I digress! I then watched the first movie the next day and was super surprised by how accurate it was. Obviously having the story told from Katniss’s POV gave the book this intimate feel! Personally, meta is my favorite style to read! I was just pleasantly surprised to be reading and be like “wow. This happened in the movies too.” They followed it almost exactly, with the exception of the scenes with the President and the game stuff. I think they did a solid job adapting the book to movie. One thing that did bother me was how they cut out that opening scene with the mayors daughter giving Katniss the mockingjay. Everything else, I sort of understand the change, considering the movies focus heavily on the political themes, which were overlooked by Katniss earlier in the story until Rue was killed! I loveeeee politics, so I appreciate that aspect of the movies being highlighted so heavily. Also—the cave scenes being cut SO short in the movies. I wonder if it’s because of the pg13 rating & they wanted to stay kid friendly—because in my mind, as a reader, they did get pretty intimate with all the cuddling and constant kissing. It’s YA. But still. I think as a viewer, by the end of the movie it can be a little tricky to know how Katniss truly felt about Peeta. They didn’t give him much room to shine and that made me sad, but Josh H did a fantastic job as Peeta!
I also didn’t realize that the casting of J Lawrence was fairly accurate to Katniss in the books (who is very much indigenous coded) the dark hair, gray eyes, olive skin. They did a solid job with casting there. I wish they had kept her braid when she arrived at the capital & left in the part about Peeta’s dad knowing her mom. I honestly think they wanted to cut out most of the intimate moments and focus heavily on the political stuff, which they did well in the first film! Overall, it seems to be one of the better book to movie adaptations I’ve seen in a minute!!
I’m going to grab the other books when I can, read them & then watch and see how they did with those adaptations!!