Mundie Moms

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

TMI: City of Bones Movie: Sophie's Review


I posted this over on the Mundie Moms forum this past weekend and honestly, it was so my friends on twitter and facebook could read my thoughts on "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" movie. They know I'm a huge fan of the books and they wondered if it was everything I thought it would be. But Katie asked me in her sweetly insistent, Shadowhunter-ish way to post it here as well. So without further stalling, here it is:

(SPOILER WARNING: for the movie and the books)

Things That Hit the Mark:

- Bringing us into the magic of Cassie's world: Who hasn't wanted to see The Institute come to life? Or how runes actually look on a Shadowhunter's skin? Or that Midnight Flower?

- The characters come to life: HUGE props to the casting people. You got EVERY single character perfectly cast. I've always said that Jamie would deliver Jace and he did. Lily was a perfect Clary; she was curious, accepting of the new world revealed to her and she was wonderful in her conversations with both Simon and Jace. Jemima with that bracelet-whip and flame thrower seemed to channel Izzy. And Godfrey, oh my Godfrey was Helloooooo Magnus.

- Special Effect Creaturama : I never knew I'd be so excited to see the demons come to life. The birds to ash-demons, that Ravener demon, even the scary little girl demon...all were excellent. Great CGI. No money was spared and I enjoyed it all thoroughly.

- Grown-up cast: Okay, Hodge was PERFECT. Oh my goodness, I kept waiting for him to come on screen some more and explain a few more things because who wouldn't believe he was cursed by The Clave in that scene with Valentine? Jocelyn and Luke? Oh, the delicious shared history was palpable on that screen. Loved them and I thought there was just enough of them to make the movie not all teens saving the world. And then there was Valentine. JRM got his psychotic parts right. He was BadDaddy and he played it out to the max. Given what little character development time there was (a 2 hour movie), I thought he did a very credible job.

- The snark : Let's face it Cassie's snarky parts are the very things that keep us laughing and they provide the most memorable lines from the book. I'm so glad the producers/director kept the snark in. My husband who has never read the books loved Simon and Jace. In fact, I'm pretty sure he now ships them. Even though he doesn't know what that means. He kept laughing as he quoted their bits (the "you shot two police officers" and the "Jace Wayland, Demon Hunter" parts in particular). So glad that was there as it should have been.


- The midnight flower scene: We all waited for it rather anxiously and SONY Pictures, you delivered it. It was awkward, sweet and sexy. Thank you.

- The soundtrack: It works so well with the scenes and yes, I play it all the time and not just because I'm a Mundie Mom. I've recommended it to friends who love the mix of music. And this bit could fall under the previous one (also I might alone in this opinion), but I'm going to put it out there anyway -- I loved the moment when the music's crescendo was perfectly timed with the kiss. Yes, it's cheesy, but this is a BIG kissy moment so it worked for me.

Things That Just Didn't Work (At All): I realize that these are relatively minor things, and I know people like to focus on negative things (hey, I read reviews to see what people didn't like, too). Just make sure to place these in the bigger picture of All The Things I Loved and you'll see that these are minor details. They are also all easy fixes which would have pleased me the fan but also, people who saw it with me and wondered "huh?".

- Valentine's Dread Lock/Braid Things: We get it. He's a hot, leather-wearing, PsychoDaddy hipster. CUT THE BRAIDS OFF. He's not Bebe Captain Jack. Please. It's insulting somehow to have him look like a pirate. Bluebeard he's not. Mean, maniacal he is.

- Magnus' Obvious Voice-over: I saw this the first time with my oldest two kids and my teen son leaned over to ask why Magnus' voice sounded like "badly dubbed anime". Ummm, yeah. We can hear that his voice was not recorded in the same place as the others in the party scene. His voice has an echo-y, silent background quality. I don't care about the reasons of why and how it needed to be done. But it could've been done better. Godfrey is THE perfect Magnus. But I worry how he will deliver some of the more important lines in City of Ashes because with the ADR quality shown here, his lines will fall flat. And that's a shame because we all love Magnus for his well-timed comebacks.

- All SIlent Characters Must Assume Decepticon Tones:  I don't know why this happens in movies. There must be some Costco-style deal for silent characters because they all seem to assume the same level of Decepticon tones as well, yes, Decepticons. WHY? Not sure. I thought the Silent Brothers would sound well, hushed, silent-ish, somehow older when they spoke in Clary's head. The sheer volume cracked me up and took me out of the movie for that scene because I couldn't stop chuckling. Also thinking of (spoiler: Jem).

redbubble shirt by obdobuk
- Jace, I Am Your Father: *coughs* Picture me with hubs on Date Night. He insisted we see TMI. And then we get to this part and he leans over and whispers, "Has Cassie seen 'Star Wars'?" Yeah. I'm pretty sure she has and THIS WAS NOT IN THE BOOK. Okay, I silently promised myself to not say that in my review because yes, this is the movie and not the book. But blah, blah, blah...WHYYYYYYY? Why couldn't Jace just recognize Valentine as his father like he does in the book? Surely, this would've cost even less screen time? It would've been more logical and it wouldn't cause Valentine to quote one of the most famous lines in moviedom. Also, what's with the Vulcan Mind Meld moment? Oh yeah, Valentine had to SHOW Jace that he really was his father. This was just plain dumb and unnecessary. Made me wonder if the screenwriter, director, producers had read the book because if they had, they would realize the wrong of it all.

[Side Note to All Movie Producers Everywhere: You guys have the money, so use your power to erase this line from all future movies. Unless you are flashing back in the new Disney-fied Star Wars, then by all means have James Earl Jones utter it again.]

- Clary's Rune to Clean-up the Room: Say it with me--every Mundie Mom needs this rune. Not sure why cleaning up the apartment with a magical move-all-the-things rune was a necessary way to end the movie, but there you have it. We already saw Clary's powers in a more powerful and well-executed climactic scene. We didn't need this bit. Did anyone think that birds were going to sing with her through that window? Oh wait, the birds turned into those cool ash demons. Never mind.

FINAL THOUGHTS: There was a lot of good in this movie and I know it's super-hard to adapt a book successfully to the screen. There are fewer successes and many more flops. Overall, I thought it was a decent adaptation and truly my criticisms are minor. I know I was passionate about them, but hey, I saw the movie four times (so far) there had to be a lot in it that I loved, too.

2 comments:

  1. I loved your honest review Sophie! I agree with you for the most part! I was mostly happy with the casting...Clary, Simon, Luke, Jocelyn, Isabelle and Alec....they nailed their characters! LOVED them! I also liked Hodge..but I pictured him differently. I had high hopes for Magnus - he LOOKED the part...but found him a bit underwhelming. He just needed to be MORE...and I caught the voice-over too. I thought Jamie did well as Jace but I still have a hard time reconciling him with my book-Jace. JRM...fabulous actor but he wasn't my Valentine...I pictured Valentine to be more of a drill sergeant...in pristine suits with cropped hair than a biker-dude. The Silent Bros were great (definitely creepy) but I hated their 'inner voices'...like how they did the wolves in Twilight...cheezey. I ADORED the sets...the Institute, the apartment, Pandeomonium, the Dumort...all neat how they came to life. I didn't like much of the straying from the book though. I know they can't incorporate all the details...but I hate it when they stray significantly. And like you said, some of it was unnecessary. I hope they (the movie producers/director) listen to the constructive criticisms so they get it more right for City of Ashes. Overall, I still loved the movie...but there were a few things that bugged me. Great review!!

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  2. Michele - Thank you for leaving your review here! And I'm glad I'm not in the minority with my small criticisms. Really, it was the "I Am Your Father" bit that bothered me the most. I hope the time taken results in a strong CoA script.

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