The Three Musketeers (2011)

★★★

Definitely an action-adventure flick. The movie has a lot more swashbuckling and gun fighting than the book, and it's clear this is a Hollywood production. I didn't realize until afterwards that the movie was intended for 3D, and in retrospect, it probably would have been a lot more impressive as a big screen, 3D experience.

From the very beginning, this movie plays fast and loose with the original story. The movie invents a crazy back story in which Athos, Porthos, and Aramis are in cahoots with Milady, and they are involved in some kind of James Bond-like intrigue. Oddly, Buckingham is an over-stylized villain.

I thought Orlando Bloom was overly dramatic as Buckingham, and actually, I would have preferred to see him as d'Artagnan! d'Artagnan was a bit younger than I expected (15-ish instead of 19-ish), and Athos and Porthos came across as a lot older than I expected (mid-30's instead of mid-20's). Buckingham and Aramis shared an uncanny resemblance, which is actually an important point in the book, but completely irrelevant in this movie.

I did enjoy the casting of the cardinal, the king, and the queen.

Besides the glaring deviations from the book, and the altogether invented material, I also wondered why smaller deviations were made. Why make Athos, Porthos, and Aramis ex-musketeers? It would have been fun to see them in musketeer uniforms.

There were also shortcuts and LOTS of omissions - no Captain de Treville, no Grimaud or Mosqueton or Bazin, no fleur-de-lis, no Lord de Winter. But what else could be expected, the book is much too long and complex to be done justice in a two-hour movie.

The ending is completely different from the book's ending, but it's about what you would expect from a Hollywood movie. Clearly there is a sequel in the works, but I don't expect it to be in any way related to the books. Overall, the movie is comfortably light-hearted, and the song for the closing credits, "When We Were Young," really captures the spirit if the book.

Ramona and Her Mother (Ramona Quimby #5) by Beverly Cleary

★★★★

Okay, just after saying that this series deserves 5 stars across the board, I'm giving 4 stars to Ramona and Her Mother. :P

It's not that this book isn't great - it is! - I just didn't find it quite as interesting as the others. Ramona watches her mother and Beezus bond while hosting a brunch and discussing hair, and she feels left out. She yearns for her mother to show her the same type of affection that she shows Beezus.

As a mother, I am always thinking about "fairness"... Of course, I need to treat my older daughter differently than the way I treat my younger son - they are different ages, different genders, different people! But, at the same time, I don't want either kid to feel shafted when one or the other is getting more attention, for whatever reason. Well, maybe I feel like the underlying issue in this book wasn't addressed - Beezus is older, and therefore, she gets different kinds of attention than Ramona. In the end, all Ramona wanted was for her mother to say the same things to her as she said to Beezus. I suppose it's a good reminder that kids really do listen, even when we think they aren't, so we should give thought to what we say.

Isabelle, anyway, says her favorite part of this book was when Beezus got her hair cut and styled by a beauty school student, and when it turned out looking awful, Ramona wanted Beezus to look like herself. I'm pleased with this answer, because it shows that Isabelle actually has a sense of compassion. :P Even though Ramona was in the midst of feeling jealous of the attention Beezus was getting from their mother, that didn't stop her from wanting her sister to look like her sister.

Ramona and Her Father (Ramona Quimby #4) by Beverly Cleary

★★★★★

I wish I could just review the entire series all at once, because these 5-star ratings are just getting repetitive.

In this book, Beverly Cleary broadens Ramona's world and introduces some more serious concepts. Ramona's father loses his job, and thanks to Beezus, Ramona learns that her father's smoking is a terrible habit. Not unexpectedly, Beverly Cleary is able to frame these issues from Ramona's perspective. Ramona may not understand money matters, but she understands that when her father isn't working, he's always cross, and that, in turn, affects the entire family's dynamics. She also doesn't know exactly why smoking is bad, but she just wants to save her father's life.

Isabelle likes that Beezus and Ramona work together to get their father to stop smoking - they don't always get along, but sometimes, they do.

Ramona the Brave (Ramona Quimby #3) by Beverly Cleary

★★★★★

Up until now, we've been reading Ramona books illustrated by Tracy Dockray. I really like her drawings because they do such a great job of conveying the emotions of each character - from elation to concern to anger. Illustrations definitely add to the story, helping Isabelle to put a greater context around the words being read.

Since we're going through the series by borrowing books from the library, we read whatever editions are available. With this book, for the first time, we encountered a different illustrator - Alan Tiegreen. I thought Isabelle might not like the change, but she told me that in school, her teacher reads books illustrated by yet another person, who turned out to be Jacqueline Rogers. This is great! I personally prefer Tracy Dockray's pictures because Alan Tiegreen's drawings look, well, not so cute. :P But they do do an equally good job of bringing the story to life, and I love that Isabelle is seeing different interpretations of the same characters.

In Ramona the Brave, Ramona is in first grade, just like Isabelle! Ramona begins to learn a few things about people and relationships - other people may sometimes behave in ways that belittle you, and some people (like teachers) may misinterpret situations in such a way as to misunderstand you completely. Poor Ramona! I really felt for her in this book. I think every person has some strong memory of being misunderstood as a child.

Interestingly, while I focused on the emotions and the possible take-away lessons, Isabelle said her favorite thing about this book was the brick factory game that Ramona played with Howie. How typical! :) The parent tries to emphasize some worthy lesson, but the child really just wants to enjoy the story. :P

Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby #2) by Beverly Cleary

★★★★★

Isabelle and I are going through the entire Ramona Quimby series!

I actually remember reading (or hearing) this book as a child - I think in first grade - because I have a distinct memory of the "dawnzer" that "gives a lee light". :)

Ramona the Pest was especially fun because in this book, Ramona is in kindergarten, and Isabelle just finished kindergarten. Since Isabelle is my older child, I really didn't know what to expect when she started kindergarten, and I spent a lot of time worrying and wondering about whether or not her behavior and skill level in various areas was "normal". For me, I struggled with watching Isabelle struggle with her behavior - she was an angel in school, but a bear at home! This book - though fiction - highlights how difficult it is for young children to conform to expectations of behavior, and even though it's not a parenting book, it really helped me to better understand Isabelle and more easily forgive her less-than-ideal behavior.

Isabelle, who is in first grade now, likes this book because when her teacher read it aloud in class, she had the class "crank back their minds" - complete with whirring sound effects and a hand gesture cranking their minds backwards - to think about what kindergarten was like for them. Clearly, Isabelle is able to identify with Ramona, and of course, being able to identify with the characters in a book always makes for good reading!

Beezus and Ramona (Ramona Quimby #1) by Beverly Cleary

★★★★★

I remember reading some, not all, of the Ramona Quimby series when I was a kid. I was delighted when Isabelle told me that Beezus and Ramona was the "read aloud" book at school - which means her teacher reads it aloud during snack time and after lunch.

I really love this series! I have as much fun reading these books to Isabelle as Isabelle does listening to me read them. Beezus and Ramona introduces us to Ramona, and as a mother, I feel better just knowing that someone - Beverly Cleary! - seemed to understand what it's like to parent a difficult child like Ramona. It made me feel not so bad about my own kids' misbehavior. :P I like that it highlights the relationship between two sisters - they love each other, of course, but they don't always like each other, and that's okay.

From a kid's standpoint, Isabelle says she likes this book because when Ramona wants to get a library card, she tries to sign her name as a series of i's and t's. Yes, this is what Isabelle loves about this book! Clearly, Beverly Cleary understands children! She gets inside the head of Ramona and gives us a peek of what might be going through a child's mind. She shows us that even when Ramona misbehaves, there is some kind of reason for her behavior that is logical to a child.

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

★★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***

I remember being very excited to see this movie in the theaters, and then being very disappointed. After re-reading the book - and seeing the French mini-series - I actually ended up enjoying this re-watching more than I thought I would.

Of course, the original 1,462-page story is really too much for a standard 2-hour movie, so some condensing of the story and omissions of characters is expected. Making Fernand the son of a count actually turned out to be a smart way of making Mercedes into a countess without having to spend any time on Janina, which was completely left out. No Haydee! A significant omission, but one could easily suspect the she would not be needed in a Hollywood version of the story.

All told, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more characters omitted than included - no Caderousse, no Bertuccio (who was replaced by Jacopo, whose role was increased), no Benedetto, no alter egos for the Count of Monte Cristo, no Maximilian and Valentine love story, no Franz or DeBray or Beauchamp. The only young person was Albert, whose story was given an unexpected twist.

Danglar and Villefort were minimized, and Edmond's revenge on them was much less complex than in the book. Fernand was the primary antagonist, and he was made into a womanizing gambler with no sense of honor at all - quite a change from the character in the book.

Despite all the differences from the book, I really enjoyed the first part of the movie. I loved that the movie progressed chronologically, and we saw Edmond at sea, we saw the love between him and Mercedes, and we saw the hope of his future as he was promoted to captain. Edmond's imprisonment, and his developing relationship with the Abbé Faria, was portrayed so well that it was just all that much more disappointing when, after Edmond escaped, the story veered farther and farther from the book.

I thought the casting of Edmond was perfect - he made a believable transformation from naive young sailor to worldly count. Mercedes, though, didn't have the dignity or the beauty I expected. Guy Pearce was maybe a bit over-dramatic as Fernand.

The ending, though far from the one laid out in the book, was about what you'd expect from a Hollywood production. I really didn't mind, but being such a huge fan of the book, I just can't bring myself to give this movie more stars. Still, it was entertaining, and not bad.

The Count of Monte Cristo (1998)

★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

Ugh. So much of my time watching this mini-series was spent feeling disappointed that I really can't bring myself to give it more than 2 stars. Where do I begin?

Of course, whenever a movie is based on a book, every way in which the movie deviates from the book is a point of criticism for me. I do understand that in order to simplify the story for the screen, the story sometimes needs to be condensed, or characters omitted. In this way, it did not really bother me at all that Eugenie Danglars and Julie Morrel were left out, or that Madame Danglar's affair with Lucien DeBray (also completely omitted) was not included.

I can't, however, so easily overlook other omissions or modifications that seemed to serve no purpose. Haydee was not introduced until much later in the story, which was detrimental to the Count's character development. Her mere presence upon their arrival in Paris is what gave the Count an air of mystery and eccentricity. Without Haydee, the Count came across as just another rich guy.

I suppose it made sense, for simplicity's sake, to separate Benedetto from Bertuccio, but was it really necessary to change Benedetto's name? His role became so minor, his entire relationship with the Count having been omitted, that the whole court scene in which he identifies Villefort as his father was omitted! This scene was pivotal in the book, filled with drama, and without it, Villefort doesn't descend into madness as he does in the book.

And speaking of Villefort - Madame Villefort's cherished son, Edward, was completely left out as well. Indeed, he had a small role to play, but it was significant in that it was only upon his death that the Count of Monte Cristo realized - by his own accord - that his vengeance had gone too far.

Instead of having that meaningful moment of self-realization, the movie gives us the Count's realization through Camille, who was not in the book at all and who was nothing but an annoying, infuriating distraction. At one point in the movie, Monte Cristo calls Valentine "too blond, too insipid" - he might as well have been talking about Camille, and yet, he supposedly fell for her! A huge part of the Count of Monte Cristo's character was his long-held belief that having had his heart broken by Mercedes, he did not think he was capable, nor did he think he was worthy, of loving again. And even though we saw a glimmer of hope in Monte Cristo, it wasn't until after everything unfolded that he allowed himself to feel love again. The one redeeming thing about Camille is that the Count did not end up with her.

But wait, there's more. Instead of progressing chronologically from the beginning, the movie relied too much on flashbacks to explain why Edmond Dantes was in prison in the first place, and it never really explained the motivation of Danglars or Fernand. We never saw a true portrait of the young, happy, life-loving, filled-with-potential Edmond, and so the viewer never got a good sense for what was really sacrified when Edmond was sent to prison.

In the book, it was clear that the only way Edmond was able to survive so many years in prison was because he and the Abbe Faria devoted their time to Edmond's all-around education - in politics, languages, alchemy, etc. Why did the movie dismiss all that, and say that the abbe taught him nothing?!

The movie also took strange liberties to introduce a sexual angle to the story. Besides the booty call with Camille (which was LAME-O!), Edmond encountered a superfluous prostitute when he first escaped from prison, and then the judge who pardoned Peppino had a weird fetish! Why bother with that stuff?

Overall, the lack of attention to details was disappointing. The "red silk purse" represented so much in the book, why change it to a dull brown sack!? The portrait of Mercedes looking out to sea let the reader know that Mercedes never stopped loving Edmond - so why leave it out of the movie?

Finally, much of the casting and character portrayals just didn't seem right. I really did not find Gerard Depardieu convincing at all. He was not the imposing figure I've always imagined the Count to be. Instead, he was stocky and fat and his shoulders were distractingly broad. Albert did not have any of the joie de vivre that he had in the book, and one of the best scenes in the book - when Albert slept peacefully while in Luigi Vampa's lair - was, of course, omitted. Fernand looked about 20 years too old.

So, was there anything I liked about this mini-series? Honestly, I didn't mind the new, Hollywood ending, because deep down I sort of wished for that ending in the book, too. I liked the way the movie gave us a glimpse of the Count's alchemy lab, so we see how he came to possess so many vials of potions and antidotes. Mostly, though, as I watched the episodes, I found myself just waiting for the series to end.

The Three Musketeers (The d'Artagnan Romances #1) by Alexandre Dumas

★★★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***

A really entertaining read!

The first part of the book, in which we are introduced to d'Artagnan and the three musketeers, is downright funny. I swear I laughed out loud! As the story progresses, though, the humor is replaced by the drama of mistresses, duels, war, and intrigue.

I have to admit that all the illicit affairs with married women somewhat affected my prudish sensibilities. Maybe that sort of thing was accepted practice back then, though Dumas still seemed to go out of his way to show the reader that both Madame Bonacieux and Madame Coquenard were stuck in pitiful, loveless marriages. At first I kept thinking that poor Madame Coquenard was being quite ill-used by Porthos, but in the end it all worked out, I guess.

The ease with which the men fought duels also took some getting used to. The idea that a man would be willing to die over some off-the-cuff remark was crazy!

Characters were reliably one-dimensional, which generally speaking makes for less interesting reading, but in this case, it allowed me to confidently put my faith into certain characters without having to worry about being let down by some sort of surprise twist. There was no annoying Harry Potter-esque withholding of information - everyone dutifully told everyone else what was going on, and Monsieur de Treville - always in a position to help - was admirably informed throughout the book. 

The only character whose one-dimensionalism I really didn't appreciate was Milady's. Ugh! Even as her history was gradually revealed, we never got to the root of her evil. Why was she in the convent in the first place? What was her motivation for being so evil? With her wits and feminine wiles, she could have had fame and fortune without having to be wicked to boot.

To better appreciate the book, I really could have stood to have a better understanding of French and European politics and religion at the time. Every now and then, I just muddled along, content to accept that this one person was enemies with that person and allies with that other person, but not really understanding why.

Finally, I just have to say that I really loved the ending. Not the epilogue (which was good, too, though I was sorry to see the group disbanded), but the last conversation between d'Artagnan and Athos, in which d'Artagnan says he has "nothing but bitter recollections," and Athos responds, "You are young, and your bitter recollections have time to change themselves into sweet remembrances." Ah, so poignant! Those early days, when the four friends pooled their money during times of wealth, and then equally shared the burden of hunger when the money was gone, would surely one day be looked upon as bittersweet memories.

If only we all had such devoted friends in our lives. "All for one, one for all!"