If you don't have the budget to make a worthy book adaptation, then it's best to leave it alone.
Starting with the acting and the catastrophic casting (especially for Liv Silber!!!), to the storyline, poorly developed plot and characters. The whole film also seemed very rushed to me and was more like a "teenager's fever dream", as the viewer had no time to warm up to the plot and characters, the love story between Henry and Liv seemed stilted and unnatural.
One plot twist follows the next, and as a viewer you can't keep up. Everything is presented in a very dramatized yet superficial manner and therefore very implausible. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Persephone dies without the viewer even really realizing why... wtf?
And last but not least, the dialogues, which often made me feel embarrassed. What makes films like Harry Potter etc. So successful is the timeless appeal, well-crafted dialogue and no use of youth language. Unlike this movie, I'm afraid. The desperate attempt to adapt the film to a young audience and to come across as cool, backfired in my opinion.
Conclusion: Some books should remain books!
Starting with the acting and the catastrophic casting (especially for Liv Silber!!!), to the storyline, poorly developed plot and characters. The whole film also seemed very rushed to me and was more like a "teenager's fever dream", as the viewer had no time to warm up to the plot and characters, the love story between Henry and Liv seemed stilted and unnatural.
One plot twist follows the next, and as a viewer you can't keep up. Everything is presented in a very dramatized yet superficial manner and therefore very implausible. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Persephone dies without the viewer even really realizing why... wtf?
And last but not least, the dialogues, which often made me feel embarrassed. What makes films like Harry Potter etc. So successful is the timeless appeal, well-crafted dialogue and no use of youth language. Unlike this movie, I'm afraid. The desperate attempt to adapt the film to a young audience and to come across as cool, backfired in my opinion.
Conclusion: Some books should remain books!