Reading a book is an emotional and wonderful journey. Falling in love with characters is easy, and nothing compares to finally seeing your favorite characters on the big screen. Seeing a literature hero depicted in a movie can be absolutely incredible or completely horrible. An avid reader’s favorite book is a precious thing, and letting a director bring the story to the big screen is, well, stressful.

The Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth is often compared to the Hunger Games. This comparison has more to do with the fact that the trilogies are the same genre and both take place in a post-apocalyptic time. When story plot lines are taken into account, the similarities are few. Now that the Divergent movie has been released, the comparisons are relentless; and those who say the two movies are similar, make a fair argument.

Creating a movie based on a book is difficult. The casting choices for Divergent were received well, but the deep history and emotions presented by the characters in the book were not depicted well on the big screen.

Shailene Woodley plays the main character, Tris. Woodley brings the character to life and really captures Tris’ struggles with discovering herself. Four, played by Theo James, brings a great sense of mystery and intensity to the film; similar to how Four is depicted in the book. Unlike the book, the film rushes Tris and Four’s relationship. This takes away from the emotional side of the character development.

Minor characters were barely mentioned, if not completely left out. Divergent is a long book, but there was room in the movie for more details on minor characters. When minor characters are removed from a film adaptation of a book, emotional pain and and joy brought by those characters are removed as well. The supporting roles that were included in the movie lacked depth which was better provided by the novel.

Books, especially in the case of Divergent, create a more personal experience than seeing a movie ever will. Divergent the book was amazing, the movie was acceptable. There were no drastic changes to the plot, but scenes were added and removed. The main complaint here is the lack of character development.

Divergent is a must-read, but be prepared for dissatisfaction when seeing the film.  Nothing compares to a great book, especially not an average movie.

 Rating: 3/5 Paws 

See the “Movie-Goer” review here.