Yup, I'm obsessed with the Hunger Games trilogy. My obsession has recently been rekindled because I watched Mockingjay Part 2 just the other day for the first time. THEY DID SO WELL converting the book to the movie!! I was amazed. It made me want to re-read all the books, and in the span of just under 2 weeks I read all 3 books. Haha!
Here's a few of my thoughts on both the books and the movies *spoilers*:
Hunger Games
I enjoy the book quite a bit. I have read it so many times! And I still cry when Rue dies, still get squirmish at the part with the tracker jackers (because I HATE wasps!!), and still feel a bit bad for Peeta because Katniss is misleading him. Course she thinks he is acting too, but still. Peeta is probably one of my 2 favorite characters, and not just because he decorates cakes. ;) He is a genuinely good person. It's interesting because I don't particularly like Katniss, but the books are all in her perspective and I still really like reading them. Ha! What I would be interested in is a version of the first book from Peeta's perspective! I don't care about the other 2 books being in his mind, but the first one would definitely be a cool thing to read!
How was the movie?
I enjoy the movie, just not as much as the book. Obviously it's hard to recreate a book accurately enough to satisfy die hard fans. Most of my issues with the movie are just knit-picky. Like the costumes for the chariot ride, I think they were silly. I found some fan art that looks pretty cool and is basically what it was in the book.
If only they could have done a little better in the movie. But really I think everything else was done as well as it could have been. The acting was all very good, I like Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as actors but they are not what I pictured I suppose. Well, you can't satisfy everyone. But it is definitely a good start to a great movie series!
Catching Fire
This is my FAVORITE book of the series! I can't really think exactly why this is my favorite, I think it may be because there is so much that happens in it and you don't focus too much on back story or anything. And you get introduced to all these awesome new charactes, LIKE FINNICK! He is my 2nd favorite character :) He is so fun! I like the arena for the quarter quell also, I think it's very clever even though its quite brutal. I mean almost everyone dies by the 2nd day! And I remember I was quite surprised the first time I read it that it was all planned and the rebels were going to get them all out in the end. It's just a good story, it really keeps you reading! Which explains why I finished reading it in 3 days, cuz you just couldn't put it down!
How was the movie?
I REALLY LIKE the movie!! It was a very good re imagining! I was very very impressed. It's possible that it's my favorite movie of the series too. Can't decide tho cuz I've only seen Mockingjay Part 2 once. All the new actors they had to bring in fit the characters very well. Of course, Finnick being my favorite character, I was a bit worried about their choice of Sam Claflin. But he did wonderfully! Buuut, I pictured him a bit different.
This is Armie Hammer. He is basically exactly what I pictured while reading the book. I had never seen him before until I watched Mirror Mirror, which was after I read Catching Fire, and I was like HOLY CRAP!!! THAT'S FINNICK!! A lot of people actually thought of him, but as it happens so often they didn't cast any fan picks. Back to the movie, all the outfits for Katniss were really great! I loved her wedding dress that turned into the mockingjay. It was gorgeous! And the chariot costumes were excellent, not quite like the book but really cool all the same! All the arena scenes were fun to watch, cuz that was my favorite part of the book, even tho some of my favorite scenes weren't in it, what can you do. It was ALL GREAT!
Mockingjay
This book... this book is heartbreaking... I don't enjoy it very much. Haha! While Peeta is being destroyed by the capital, everyone else is left going mad in the stinking hole of District 13. And just when you think you get Peeta back, THEY CHANGED HIM!! Exactly what he said in the first book that he didn't want to have happen, and it happens... :( I was sooo so mad. And then EVERYONE DIES!!! And if they aren't dead, they are ridiculously damaged. It's basically a war book, and I don't like war. But, it gets somewhat better at the end so it has a somewhat happy ending. It's hard to read, I've only read it a couple times.
How were the movies?
The movies were done really really well! I find it much easier to watch them than reading the book. I ship Katniss and Peeta, so Part 2 made me very happy when he started coming out of his tracker jacker induced attitude towards Katniss.
I like Part 2 better than Part 1 I think. There are some parts of the first movie that I like, but it's mostly just kinda slow to me. But when you hit the 2nd part, it really takes off! There's so much action you can't hardly keep up, but it's super good. It's still depressing when you get to know and like all these great characters only to watch them get killed tho... I was very put out, but it's what was in the book so at least they stayed true to it. That's the big thing with the movies; they stayed extremely, brutally, and agonizingly accurate to the book.
Haha! Katniss and Peeta's relationship name. This is basically your emotions through the entire Mockingjay book and movies if you ship them. I know it was me for sure. Haha! But it gets better by the end, I swear!
Anyways, it is one of my favorite book series and has become a favorite movie series as well! I am happy tho that when I read the books I still picture all the characters as I pictured them before the movies came out :) That's one reason I'm glad I read them before I saw the movies.
Well, I'm done ranting and raving now. I will probably read a few chapters of Mockingjay before I go to bed. Hope you have a wonderful evening, whatevers left of it! :)
Taylor Kay