I keep seeing reviews that this movie faithfully adapted the novel. It didn't. Not that the novel was so profound, but it at least made the world make sense. The movie fails at that. I know nothing about making films, yet as the credits rolled I was immediately thinking of how i could have done a better job adapting this. It's as if they tried to scoop up as many surface level elements of the book while failing to make us connect with the rationale behind the main characters' misconceptions.
In the intro l beginning, they don't emphasize how important the children find the mysterious gallery. In the ending, they don't allow the headmistress even an additional sixty seconds to explain why the school existed in the first place and the purpose of her life's work and the system she was fighting to change. The other changes they make to the story are fine, as neither the novel not the film give us any real sense of deep feelings between the three main characters. What is meant to be a sneaky sci Fi story hiding inside a romance fails equally in both genres, and that much the movie captured from the novel quite adequately.
In the intro l beginning, they don't emphasize how important the children find the mysterious gallery. In the ending, they don't allow the headmistress even an additional sixty seconds to explain why the school existed in the first place and the purpose of her life's work and the system she was fighting to change. The other changes they make to the story are fine, as neither the novel not the film give us any real sense of deep feelings between the three main characters. What is meant to be a sneaky sci Fi story hiding inside a romance fails equally in both genres, and that much the movie captured from the novel quite adequately.