16 Times Movies Changed Major Plot Points Of The YA Books They Were Based On And Pissed Everyone Off
We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us which YA books were done dirty by their movie adaptations. Here are some of the book-to-screen adaptations fans just couldn't get behind:
Warning: Spoilers ahead!!!
1.Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
"They added whole new plots about stuff that literally didn't exist in the books. It wasn't Logan Lerman's fault, though — he did the best he could with what he was given."
2.Artemis Fowl
"What a dumpster fire of a movie. They changed the races of almost everyone, took away Foaly’s entire role and effectively removed Holly’s entire arc of becoming the first female LEP officer, and changed Artemis from a genius with dubious morals to a dull, unlikeable brat."
3.Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
"They messed up the ages of almost everyone, switched Emma and Olive’s powers, and the plot in general was just lacking. The movie’s villain was just sad compared to the book’s villain, who actually had a chance at winning and created tension. Plus, not showing Jacob’s power with controlling the hollows? So much wasted opportunity."
4.Divergent
"The book series wasn't even that good to begin with, but the movies were so bad. Everything in Allegiant was so far off from the book, and I was so confused."
5.Vampire Academy
"Richelle Mead is one of my favorite writers and the book series is great — it’s well-written, the characters have great arcs, and the love story is full of passion. The movie was a joke. I don’t know who adapted it for the screen, but wow, was it bad. Zoey Deutch made every bit of dialogue seem like a joke to her. I was so let down."
6.The Giver
"It's my favorite book of all time, and they talked about making a movie for years and years. When I saw it was finally being made, I was ecstatic. However, now I wish I never saw it. They changed so much that was essential about the plot and gave the characters such different personalities. I was horrified — I've spent the past seven years trying to forget I even saw it."
7.Eragon
"Nothing is worse than this. It seems like they never even read the book."
8.The DUFF
"They completely changed the story for the movie to the point where, if I'd walked in and started watching it without knowing what it was called, I'd never make the connection that it was adapted from Keplinger's book. I would have loved to see this book get proper treatment, which is not what we ended up with."
9.Ella Enchanted
"I know so many people love the movie, but for book readers, it was such a letdown. The book is full of intelligent, nuanced characters and is a clever take on the traditional fairytale narrative. The film was just slapstick comedy and…a jukebox musical? No idea why."
10.The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
"The book series was my absolute favorite, and I was so excited to see it come to life on the screen, but it was like they tried to squish three books into one movie. The acting wasn't great, the plot was all wrong, and things that weren't supposed to be revealed until the third book were in the first movie. It was a complete mess, and I was so upset with how it was done. The only thing they got right was the casting for Simon and Magnus."
11.All the Bright Places
"I’ve read the book so many times, but I couldn’t stand to watch even half of the movie."
12.The Maze Runner
"Right from the onset of the movies, they changed WAY too much. The entire film series was nothing like the books."
13.Beautiful Creatures
"The casting wasn't terrible — aside from Emmy Rossum, who I love but who wasn't right for Ridley — but the movie as a whole was bad. They almost entirely destroyed the plot. The books are a wonderful, atmospheric, beautiful depiction of the south with a fun supernatural element, but I struggle to convince anyone to read them after they've seen even the trailer for the movie."
14.Ender's Game
"They messed up the ending by not sending Valentine with him into exile. There's like, five more books after that, but you can't do any of them without Valentine."
15.The Golden Compass
"The Golden Compass was absolutely awful. They removed all of the references to religion, which essentially deleted a huge part of the story. No wonder The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass were never made into movies. Luckily, there's a BBC/HBO adaptation now, which is excellent."
16.And finally, To All the Boys: Always and Forever
"The third movie was so different from the book, and definitely not in a good way. They cut out important bits like Beach Week and changed important plot elements like the colleges in order to use more ‘recognizable’ schools, which the characters would never have gotten into. The timing of the Korea trip was also changed, John Ambrose didn't return, and Lara Jean and Peter had sex at the end when the whole point in the book was that they were waiting until they were both comfortable. Overall, it was just a disappointing ending, and my favorite of the three books was butchered."
Reminder that I, Kelly Martinez, do not necessarily endorse all of these opinions!!!
Note: Some submissions were edited for length/clarity.
