I've always enjoyed reading children's books and especially since DD came along I make a point to read them often so I have a good idea of what books are out there for her. However, lately, I'm noticed a VERY disturbing trend when these same wonderful books get adapted into movies. It just seems like they are really dumbing down the books. Whole story lines get lost, things become too obvious, and I really get the impression that they think everybody who watches these movies are just not smart enough to have a memory of more than 2 seconds.

I don't get it, if a child is smart enough to read and understand the plot of these same books why are they dumbing it down so much for the movies? Also, shouldn't we challenge our children to think and, therefore, it makes more sense to make more complicated movies with twists and suspense in them? I just don't get this.

The only reasonable explanation I can see is that they are trying to draw in a younger crowd. But that just seems silly since many of these movies might be too violent for younger kids or even they do see them couldn't they also benefit from a more complicated storyline? Some examples off the top of my head are Eragon, The Golden Compass, and The Lightning Thief. Although, I'm sure there are many more that I'm missing.

Also, they definitely lose the older crowd when they dumb down the movies. Look at the success of Harry Potter (both the movies and books) amongst adults. While the movies aren't perfect, I haven't seen them dumbed down as much (especially the earlier ones... I'm not the biggest fan of the latter ones). Lord of the Rings is another example that I can think of that was still popular among kids and that was definitely NOT dumbed down at all!

I'm not a purist in that movies have to stick strictly to the book. I've seen a number of wonderful adaptations that differ from the book rather significantly. I just hate to see these books lose their level of sophistication!

Thanks for listening to my rant. We just watched the lightning thief and were really traumatized by how awful it was!