I don’t like to read books based on movies after I’ve seen the movie. I can read the book first, but reverse it and the movie almost always fails to live up to the book.

Several weeks ago Kristen and I finally watched “Stardust”. We both loved it. I’m not a huge fan of the fantasy genre, the “Lord of the Rings” and “The Princess Bride” are the main exceptions. The film “Stardust”, however, did not take itself too seriously, had well drawn characters, and really drew me in. I found myself thinking about the film more and more as days passed.

I just finished reading the novel “Stardust” today, and was likewise impressed. There are major differences in aspects of the novel and movie. The ending is completely different, even though it is peppered with the same elements. I found the forgetfulness spell that one character is cursed with handled much better in the book, but I missed the wonderful ship sequence of the movie, relegated to a few pages of exposition in the novel. The novel was able to introduce more characters, but the ending was completely different, lacking the action and resolution of the movie.

There are very few books that make the transition to movies mostly intact (excepting King’s “Shawshank Redemption”).  I think the key is to look at movies and books of the same material as two entirely different stories. You write a story for the page and it is one creature. To move it to film you must create a different creature. Both mediums have their advantages and limitations.  I’ve also come to this mind about stories that are read aloud, I’m often surprised how stories that I read can engross me, but when read aloud they lose me.

“Stardust” changed between the two iterations, print and film, but both were entertaining and well done with the same core to them. That’s good enough for me on both counts, and probably the best we can hope for.