harvey's journal

Stormbreaker. Anthony Horowitz

First of all, read the book before you see the film. Stormbreaker is a gripping, highly entertaining ripping yarn. Horowitz treats Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels as a kind of literary genre: you know the conventions and chuckle at some of the elements of the plot. There’s a crazy villain, a silent, deadly ‘odd job’ sidekick, an enormous aquarium holding a single gigantic Man-o-War jellyfish, impossible escapes, fiendish plots, a sadistic German assistant and of course gadgets and car chases. And it’s exciting, fast, gripping and fun.

I took my two boys to see the movie during the holidays and we loved the movie. In his blog, Neil Gaiman has mentioned a few times that most movie critics don’t really understand what makes a good childrens’ film. I think he’s right—the rotten tomatoes rating for the movie Stormbreaker is a lousy 50%. This is far too low for what’s really quite a satisfying kids’ movie (far better than the yawn-inducing Garfield 2). But the book towers over the film for a number of reasons. I don’t know how Horowitz pulls it off but incredibly Alex Rider is a believable character. He’s an everyday schoolboy who finds himself press ganged into being a spy. His movie counterpart appears altogether too dashing, too good at karate, too cool—he’s a movie Bond more than a year 10 school kid. And because it’s the movies there are more car chases and fights than the book although these are quite fun to watch. Unlike the novel, there’s a girl with whom he rides off into the London sunset at the end.

By the way, if you’re looking for a good young adult read check out the read hot site full of reviews and recommendations.

posted by harvey molloy @ 2:16 PM