Books vs Movies

Niece J was in town last week for a whirlwind Disneyland in the icy rainstorm and a special trip to Diagon - I mean Whimsic Alley in Santa Monica.    And thus a monumental moment was born of the icy cold rainy Disney day where we stood on barely any lines and got a whole day in in 6 sopping wet hours.  

The first viewing by Julia of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.   She'd yet to see any of the movies (except excerpts on Scene - It), J is in town and it was in the pile of Chanukah gifts slated for the last night.  But leaving Disney early and J being in town and the second night of Chanukah is always cause for celebration and we broke it out early.   I have had a thing where I thought she should read all the books before any of the movies - and I'm glad I stuck it out til we had only a few hundred pages left of book 7.  I wanted her to make the books her own - not the hollywood version of her own.

Julia opened it and pretended to faint.  I probably could have gotten away with giving her only that for the whole 8 nights.  It's what she wanted for so long.  And certainly didn't expect to get.  

But as much as she loved it I have to say, she was a little disappointed.   Even in her 6 year old world the movie doesn't quite capture the book.    Though she did watch it again during vacation and she is begging to get to see #2....