Well, the Inkheart-Autism is sticking around, so here’s a comparison of the book vs the movie, since I already did one on Basta specifically. I would like to mention once again, I’m not here to hate on any of the following:

• The actors
• The directors
• The people who like the movie
• Anyone involved in the movie at all

What I am here to borderline hate on is the movie itself. The product, not anyone who likes said product or anyone who made said product.

Spoilers obviously

Now, moving into my rant. Let’s go over some things.

Casting

Personally, I didn’t like some (read: most) of the acting choices. Brandon Fraiser didn’t do bad as Mo, but he was also the inspiration for Mo. I forget Meggie’s actress’ name, but she wasn’t bad. I didn’t like her, but I can see why people would like her.

I didn’t like Elinor much, but she’s also not a horrible choice. Farid was a decent choice of casting as well. BUT BASTA. Ughhh Basta… I did a whole separate rant on that I disagreed with it so much. BUT there was one casting choice that was 99% perfection.

Paul Bettany as Dustfinger. My ONLY problem with this choice was that they gave him blonde hair instead of the red he’s described to have, but I will admit, I like him with both, the blonde looked good as well. He did well, and when talking to Cornelia Funke (the author) he said “Dustfinger is an easy character to play, he just wants to go home.”. That might not be his exact words, but it’s the gist of it.

Cornelia herself admitted to not liking some of the casting, but I forget which ones.

Silvertongue Ability Changes

The ability of a silvertongue is a very important one in the story, one that the whole story wouldn’t exist without, so here’s what it is. A silvertongue is a person who can read things in and out of books when they read aloud. Mo/Mortimer (called Silvertongue byDustfinger, Basta, Capricorn, and his men) is one of said silvertongues. You come to find out that he read Basta, Capricorn, and Dustfinger out of the book when he was reading it aloud around his wife, and then 3-year-old daughter, Meggie. And in return for reading them out, things had to go in, so two of his cats and his wife, Resa got pulled into the book.

This is how the power works. You can’t control it, you can’t choose what comes in and out when, and things always get sent in the book in their place. This comes back to light when

1- Mo is made to read things out for Capricorn and accidentally reads a teen boy (Farid) out of a book

2- Meggie (who is also a silvertongue) reads things out of various books for Capricorn later and chairs and tables start disappearing.

Things get sent in and taken out with no control of when the power kicks in while reading and what they kick in over.

In the movie, they changed this. Nothing gets sent in (So… we don’t know how Resa got dragged into the book now, since nothing gets sent in) and when Meggie reads nothing disappears. And they can also control it more, controlling what comes in and out.

A plot point of the book which motivates pretty much everything that Dustfinger does is the fact that he wants Mo to read him BACK into the world of Inkheart (his book, if I didn’t mention that) and Mo keeps trying to tell him that he doesn’t read aloud anymore and even if he did, he couldn’t control it and there was no promise it would work, not wanting to risk losing anything else or only further failing to read Dustfinger in or maybe even read more people out.

But in the context of the movie, where they can control it… this makes Mo seem like a huge jerk who’s just… refusing to send Dustfinger home to his world where he had kids and family and a life with friends and a home of his own. Just.. because he doesn’t want to? Because in this version there’s no downside and there’s control (to an extent. He did accidentally read all of them and Farid out) so why can’t he just read Dustfinger back and call it a day?

Mischaraterization

I think this is most obvious with Basta and Capricorn, but I’ll only go into Capricorn… because I’ve ranted about Basta already. Capricorn is a cold, evil man. Emotionless. Sadistic, cold, uncaring, unempathetic, all of it. And again, emotionless and expressionless.

I forget the actor again, but they chose one of the actors known for his emotions. And this is a quote from the evilest man to exist, and one that’s only in the movie:

Capricorn: “What’s that sticky stuff called?”

Basta: “Duct Tape”

Capricorn: “Yes, Duct Tape. I love Duct Tape.”

…….

Or, maybe, this one:

Capricorn: “Now, go and get your burns tended to, or else I’ll be forced to cancel our weekly juggle night and you know how much I look forward to juggle night”

There’s no–

And he wouldn’t–

…let’s just move on….

Dustfinger’s plan

At one point, Dustfinger breaks Meggie, Farid, Elinor, and Mo out of Capricorn’s shed-prison-thing. He does this by using his abilities as a fire-speaker to set out all of the flames of the torches, sneak in during the night, and then slash the tires of Capricorn and their men before they get back in their car and escape.

In the movie he does uh… none of this. Would any of you like to guess what he does?

He has Mo read a huge twister/wind-storm out of a book…. So.. we’re doing that now? This is most definitely not a safe thing, as they’re still IN THE VILLAGE THEY’RE READING THIS STORM INTO, FOR ONE, and second, this goes back to the point of Mo can’t control his being a silvertongue. But he can now, apparently. So… they read… a huge, horrible storm… into the village….and they escape that way….

Resa Folchart

So. For the first part of the book, you don’t know where Meggie’s mother is. Then you find out she was read into Inkheart, and there’s a bit of tension about them needing to find a copy of the book after Capricorn burns them all so they can read Resa back out. She was later revealed to have been read back out by a silvertongue with a stutter, causing her to lose her voice. You don’t know this is her until Meggie recognizes her from a picture.

The movie though… starts us off with a prologue (In which it explains Silvertongues, which is dumb, because you’re reading it through Meggie’s eyes, and she doesn’t know about her father’s abilities until like, Chapter 9 or so, I don’t remember) in which you see Resa. Then, when you see her tending to Dustfinger’s burns, you see her face. I don’t know if you were supposed to forget her face or something by now, but we didn’t. This ruins… a lot of it. And there’s no tension anymore, because you know that she’s around still. There’s… no stakes? Nothing?

Ending change

In the end, Meggie is forced to read out an evil force called the Shadow for Dustfinger, but she was captured with the author of Inkheart, Fenoglio. They trick Basta into giving them paper so Fenoglio can give her something else to read to get rid of Capricorn. Meggie reads it, and I think Mo finishes it, but I can’t remember.

In the movie, she gets so far, then has to write the rest herself… which according to logic in the second book of the trilogy wouldn’t work. Something alternate to the book has to consist of words already in the book itself or written by the author. Since those words weren’t in Inkheart and Meggie, who wasn’t the author, had to finish it, this would not then work.

So. All-in-all. The movie changes some things that make Mo seem like a jerk who doesn’t want to help a poor man, Basta and Capricorn like bumbling idiots who don’t follow through on threats and like juggling. It’s pretty useless, left with plot-holes, poor casting options, scenes changed or left out, and overall, just… lackluster.

Cornelia Funke said she was highly disappointed in the movie and said “It was like I helped someone weave me a magic carpet then they handed me back a handkerchief and tried to tell me it was the same thing”

And as someone who’s loved these books for years, the movie is painful to watch.

So, I would say pick up the book. Better lines, less plot holes (except for a mute woman teaching a completely illiterate man to read somehow), better characters, and overall, better everything. If you enjoy the movie, then good for you, but I will forever have far too many problems with it to enjoy it.

And, there’s 3 books. (The first was the best in my opinion and I’m not huge fans of the other two (technically 3 others now that Color of Revenge is out), but still). There’s one movie with a pretty poor ending where Dustfinger is sent back to Inkheart in a scene nothing like the books. Including him running happily to Roxane, who you don’t know, but is his wife in the book.

…But in the books, one of his kids died, the other hates him, and Roxane remarried so uh… cool. Have fun, Dustfinger. (Yeah, he didn’t have fun past the first few chapters he was back in the book)

Anyway go read the books! And thanks for reading my ramble.