Children's Books As Popular Movies

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 

Published 1978

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs first appeared as a children's book in 1978. The highly imaginative book was written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. The story is that of a Grandfather telling his grandchildren a tall-tale bedtime story about a town called Chewandswallow. In the tiny seaside town of Chewandswallow, all the food falls from the sky. It rains juice and soup, snows mashed potatoes, and the wind blew in storms of hamburgers. Anything the town's people could possibly want to eat was provided by the weather. According to the Grandfather's tale, one day out of the blue, the weather took a turn for the worse. The food kept getting bigger and bigger and there were awful storms, like a tomato tornado. The weather threatened the lives of the town people, so they made boats out of leftover food and fled via the ocean. They started a over in a new land, but had to adjust to buying food from a supermarket. In the new town, nothing fell from they sky but rain and snow, but the people of Chewandswallow stayed in the new land and lived happily ever after.


Released 2009

In 2009, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was released by Sony Pictures as a feature film. The movie is based on the original book, but introduces viewers to an entirely new story. The film features a young, aspiring scientist named Flint Lockwood. Flint's early inventions included spray on shoes and a monkey thought translator. His newest invention is a machine that turns water into food. During a freak accident, Flint's machine is launched high into the Earth's atmosphere, where it begins turning rain into food that falls to the ground as if it were normal precipitation. The struggling town of Swallow Falls sees Flint's invention as a way to attract tourists and save the town. Encouraged by the town's gluttonous mayor, Flint gets carried away and lets the machine overheat. The food over-mutates and begins destroying the town, threatening everyone who lives in Swallow Falls. Flint, along with a few friends and weather girl, Sam, go on a mission to destroy the machine and save the town.      

Flint Lockwood in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Commonalities between the book and movie include food falling from the sky, big trucks that sweep away leftovers, a town that is threatened, and escape boats made from food. However, for the most part, the movie differs greatly from the book. I suppose movie creators thought the original book premise was too boring, so they developed a different town name, a new plot, new characters, and an alternate ending to make the story more appealing to movie audiences. 

 The Cat in the Hat

Published 1957

In The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss, two young children receive an unexpected visit from a talking cat on a boring, rainy day. The cat plays and shows off his tricks, making a huge mess in the process. All the while, the pair's pet fish acts as the voice of reason, reminding the kids that their mother will not be happy when she returns. The cat plays a game called "Fun-In-A-Box" and releases Thing 1 and Thing 2, who add to the mess. Seeing that their mother is about to return, the children capture the Things with a net and the cat uses a machine of gadgets to quickly clean the massive mess. The mother returns home to a clean house, with no idea of the mayhem that took place while she was away. The book is narrated by the young boy, who brings the story to life with Seuss' famous rhyming text.

Released in 2004

Decades after Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat had already become a classic, the story was reproduced as a movie for children. The movie version contains all the elements of the original story: rhyming narrations, the brother and sister who were bored on a rainy day, the cat's appearance and curly eyelashes, the reasonable fish, rambunctious Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the machine that cleans up the mess. However, the movie contains lots of "extras" that aren't part of the original story. The plot was greatly expanded, the children were given more elaborate personalities, and the element of the magical red crate was added. In the film version of The Cat in the Hat, the mother of the two children leave them at home with instructions to keep the house very clean, as she is hosting a party for fellow realtors that night. Sally is characterized as an uptight, control freak, while her brother, Conrad, is a troublemaker in jeopardy of being shipped off to military school. When Cat appears and convinces the children to join in his fun, Conrad's future and the mother's career are subject to ruin. In the end, Cat puts everything back in order, just in time, and helps Sally and Conrad learn valuable lessons about themselves.

The Cat in the Hat, as a film, is highly entertaining. Children will enjoy the cat's crazy antics and the colorful setting. However, as one who grew up reading The Cat in the Hat, I don't think the movie has the same appeal as the book. The magic of Dr. Seuss' books lies, no so much in the stories themselves, but in the rhythmic text. Movie creators did not give enough attention to the rhyming narrations, nor bothered to use the original wording. I definitely prefer reading the classic Cat in the Hat book aloud to watching the movie. 

Beezus and Ramona

Published 1955

In the original story of Beezus and Ramona, Beatrice (Beezus) Quimby believes she must have the most annoying little sister in the world. Her younger sister, Ramona, is always causing some type of trouble and is always the center of attention. Ramona is creative but messy and typically acts without thinking. At 4 years old, she could care less what anyone thinks and her actions consistently bring embarrassment to Beezus. As the older sister, Beezus wants to look out for Ramona but struggles to tolerate her frustrating behavior. Beezus copes when Ramona locks the neighbor's dog in the bathroom and throws herself a party without telling anyone in advance, but she can't take it when her little sister spoils her birthday party with her obnoxious behavior. After feeling that her own party has been ruined, Beezus states that she doesn't love her sister all the time. Through a heart to heart talk with her mother, Beezus realizes that sisterhood has its ups and downs. She won't always get along with Ramona or like the things she does, but that is okay. Beezus knows that she truly loves Ramona, and they will always be there for one another when it really counts.

Released 2010

The movie counterpart to Beezus and Ramona, aptly titled Ramona and Beezus, features an entirely different plot than the book. In Ramona and Beezus (2010), the Quimby family is forced to make changes after Mr. Quimby loses his job. Ramona comes up with some clever ways to raise money for the family, such as washing cars and selling lemonade out of her mother's fine crystal. The always precocious Ramona ends up doing more harm than good, embarrassing her older sister and frustrating her parents. 

Although Ramona and Beezus are older in the movie and their eye colors are reversed, Ramona and Beezus captures the basic personality traits of the book's original characters. In addition, Beezus still struggles with caring for Ramona while tolerating her antics. Both the book and movie convey the significance of a sisterly bond.

An Important Lesson About Books & Movies

After comparing several children's books to their movie counterparts, it is quite obvious that the movie is never the same as the book. The differences, typically, are not subtle either. Movie producers look to popular children's books for inspiration and then let their imaginations run wild. Plots are elaborated and characteristics are altered, all for the sake of selling more tickets. The movies I examined all featured statements like "based on the book" or "inspired by the book." Such disclaimers should be taken literally, because any movie goer expecting to see what they've read about in a book will likely be disappointed. The important lesson is that movies will never replace books. Reading allows an individual to create details, like the sounds of a character's voice or layout of a town, for themselves. In a movie, all the creating is done for you. What fun is that?