I have just gotten back from seeing My Sister’s Keeper and I felt like I had to blog straight away because I am just so damn disappointed! If you havn’t seen it yet and are planning to, I recommend you stop reading here.
So I was pretty excited about this one coming out, and I didn’t really see how you could stuff it up but how about switching which sister dies? Yeah thats right you heard me!
So I knew it was going to be a tear jerker, (my nan and I brought tissues) but I didn’t expect it to go on and on with the sadness. I kept expecting the sister to get killed in the car accident but she never did! There was no car accident with the lawyer, in fact the lawyer hardly appeared at all. The sister with the cancer dies and then…that’s it!
As far as I understood in the book, the sister that was suing for medical emancipation didn’t want to do it, but did because her sister asked. The emancipation was granted, but she ended up brain dead and donating her organs. Therefor each sister ultimately got what they wanted, there was closure, it was neat, it made sense.
But in the movie version, the sick sister dies, the kids grow up and get together for the dead sisters birthday every year. The end.
I quote a review from one of my review sites, RottenTomatoes.com
“When the film stays focused on the small passages of despair, the results are extraordinary. However, Cassavetes would rather cover the erosion of Kate’s health in lurid detail and bathe “Keeper” in weepy basic cable montages (scored to cloying pop songs), seeking to extract tears at any cost. The obnoxious calculation smothers what should’ve been a pure articulation of melancholy and a potent debate of morality.” – Dark Horizons
See, that’s just what I said.Except better.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, this isn’t the first time that a book made into a movie has disappointed me, Harry Potter springs to mind. Maybe I should stop going to see them, I particularly hate the way that the next time I read the book I won’t see the mother I first imagined, instead I will have Cameron Diaz’ (Diaz’s?) pitiful performance in my head. There are several other favourite books coming out this year, including Mao’s Last Dancer, and I heard a rumour that they are making Tomorrow When the War Began. After seeing this, i’m wondering whether it’s worth the risk.
I still maintain though that The Cat in the Hat is the best book adaptation I have ever seen. The kids watched it hundreds of times when I was a nanny and it still makes me laugh out loud.
Update: Jodi Picoult put this notice up on her website, I guess she got a little bit sick of her irate fans emailing her.
TO ALL MY FABULOUS FANS WHO’VE SEEN THE MOVIE:
Yes, I know the ending is different. Yes, I know some of you are very upset. I didn’t change it. The author has no control over the movie, and it was hard for me to accept too. However, there’s a great deal in the movie that I think is great, and I enjoyed watching it – and I hope you did too. Please don’t email me asking me why I changed the ending, or “let” Hollywood do that – it wasn’t something I had any control over.
She'll be Apples 
Thank you very much for giving me a reason not to see that film. If you haven’t read the book, please do. It’s brilliant. Very sad and emotional nearly the whole way through but it’s a beautiful read and yes, the younger sister does die at the end. There’s more of a story with the parents and the lawyer too.
And Mao’s Last Dancer is another I am scared to see as I love that book too.
Apart from the Lord of the Rings films (whose adaptations made sense), I have never seen a “film of the book” that has been worth the money. I was severely disappointed with The Other Boleyne Girl and Looking For Alibrandi, amongst others.