Review of The Book Thief (2013) by Stako — 02 Mar 2014

Markus Zusak in my opinion is one of the better modern novelists. I've read most of his books, out of all of them, no question, my favorite is The Book Thief. I often recommend this book to almost every book-lover, so it's to no one's surprise that I was looking forward to this movie, because out of what I had seen in the trailers, it seemed fine. However, after seeing it, I still recommend the book, because if you only see the movie, you will be simply missing out.

I've never watched a movie by Brian Percival before this one, so I can't compare this movie with some of his other works, but from what I've seen, I can't really blame the shortcomings of the movie on the director. There are some enjoyable and well-done scenes in this movie, it's wonderfully shot. Two exclusions to take into account - the overall feel seems off, if you've read the book you will get what I mean. The movie is much more relaxing and somehow warm than the book, but I will leave out anything specific for the sake of spoilers, and second: the length. This was my primary consearn when I heard about this movie, because I know for a fact that you can't fit a 500+ page novel in a 2 hour movie, you have to leave some stuff out if you can. In the case of The Book Thief - there is almost nothing to leave out without ruining the experience in the process. I blame the director for these, because for one - since it's a book, I suppose it's simply his view on things, but even at that, I can quote out passages that prove the setting is off, it's like he has read the book once. And for the lenght - if you see the movie, you will notice that this movie is not cheaply made, I think they could have gone the extra mile and it wouldn't have costed them that much to add another hour like the movie deserves.

In the end, story-wise, we get 3 developed characters, 2 semi-developed and a lot - simply missing from the plot. Also gone is the intriguing narrative that is present in the book (not absolutely, but noticeably). The movie simply coudln't handle the whole plot, but even if I look at it as simply a movie - the characters are still underdeveloped.

The acting in the movie is good, most notable was Geoffrey Rush, he is just the perfect fit for his role - everytime he was on screen you could sense it, he is, by far, the movie's highlight when it comes to acting. My biggest disappointments were Sophie Nélisse who was a terrible choice for a protagonist - she was bland and had little to do with the character from the book when it comes to personality, and also Nico Liersch who had just two moments in the movie where he was good-ish, the rest was terrible and I don't know who in their right mind chose this boy. He just seems to not feel like acting in half the movie, and he is supposed to play one of the more-important roles. Also, on a side note, the guy who plays his father, couldn't find his name - he is terrible too. Guess it runs in the imaginary family.

When it comes to the soundtrack in the movie, I have to point out that there were two moments where the soundtrack was being weird. I won't spoil it, but I'm pretty sure any normal person will notice it if they are paying attention.

All in all, my biggest gripe with the movie is it that it's too short - there is no character development, very weak narrative (compared to the book), pathetic ending... all in all - a very weak script adaptation by Michael Petroni, which is no surprise to me. I still say - read the book, it's great and I believe you will have a lot more fun with it. If you are a fan of the book and are curious, however, give this movie a chance, because even with all of the above - I'm rating a 7/10, because all in all it's enjoyable - it's shot nicely, it's even beautiful and creative at times (just not as often as it should) and it's still worth your time if you don't go in expecting a masterpiece.