The popular John Green novel Turtles All The Way Down (2017) has FINALLY been made into a movie. It stars Isabela Merced, Felix Mallard, and Cree Cinnhino. There was a lot of pressure on making a movie out of this #1 bestseller. Fans are excited.
This movie is fantastic for those who have read and loved the book. Yes, the book is generally better than the movie, but they did an amazing job capturing the many emotions of this story. For those who may not be interested in reading the book, the movie is as good.
This very emotional story focuses on mental health, friendship, and romance during the teenage years. Both the book and movie are suitable for any young adult or older. Aza struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The story takes readers through her highs and lows.
In the novel, we as the readers get to hear her thought spirals and experience her worries with her. She struggles a lot with germs and worrying about infections, and the way her mind works is really interesting. She’s very educated on disease, so you can learn a lot from reading the book or watching the movie. In the novel, you get to read her thoughts, but in the film, you get to hear them. In the movie, they represent her thinking by vocalizing what is going on in her mind with a character voiceover.
While both the novel and movie are deep and hard at times, there is humor involved to lighten the mood. This just makes the storyline even better by bringing a little joy to her hard life. Turtles All The Way Down brings awareness to OCD which I’ve rarely seen or read stories about. But this story does a great job of expressing what it could be like for someone.
There are high expectations when making a movie that was originally a book, and sometimes the movie is disappointing. But in no way did I feel that when watching Turtles All The Way Down. They did a great job bringing the brilliant story onto the screen and I feel they captured the most important moments well. They did this by focusing on her thought spirals, so we could hear what she was thinking. The hospital scenes were also very similar to the book, as they represented how petrified and confused she was. It’s a very personal and detailed view of Aza’s life that is shown well on pages as well as film. The book will always be the original masterpiece but the movie does not take away the creativity of the story.
Isabela Merced, who plays Aza, is always thinking deeply about her surroundings and worrying about what germs she may be exposed to, while her best friend, Daisy, played by Cree Cincchino, is bubbly, always loud, and positive. They mostly balance each other out, but this becomes a complication later in the story. Felix Mallard plays Davis, the old friend, and future romance. The chemistry between the main characters is beautiful and the actors fit the people in the book well.
Even though the film will always be different from the book and this one falls short on some details from the story, the movie is amazing and captures the heart of the book. The casting choices were just right, creating a magical connection between the characters. Anyone who has read the book loves John Green, or enjoys a genuine life story will fall in love with this movie, just like I did.
