When I asked my husband if he wanted to watch The Count of Monte Cristo with me, he groaned and said something about English assignments and high school and “all over again.” When I told him it was a recent adaption (2002), he stopped acting like he was being tortured but didn’t seem convinced that he would like it. Guess what. Here’s what he said when the movie was over: “That was actually really good. You have good taste.” I mean, I think I have good taste but it’s always nice to get validation. :) I love that he said “actually” as if he were surprised.
I agree with my husband. I thought this was a great and entertaining adaption of The Count of Monte Cristo. There were, of course, differences from the book (Read my book review of The Count of Monte Cristo). Since I love to over analyze things I’ll give you a short and long version about which was better. The long version might be kind of spoilery of either the book or the movie but I’ll keep the short version spoiler free.
Short Version
In the movie, some of the motives and some of the relationships changed, but the theme of revenge stayed the same. Some of the relationship changes were so drastic that it might bug you if you’re a purist to the book. They did bug me a little since I knew what they were supposed to be, but having these new relationships really amped up the drama which is always good for a movie. There’s also a few scenes added to amp up the action – like a really cool sword fight – but I think overall, the changes that were made to the movie added to the entertainment even if it wasn’t a very faithful adaption. I also think the changes made it so you could enjoy the movie on it’s own without having read the book. If my husband who hadn’t read the book really enjoyed it, I think that’s a sign of a good movie regardless of how faithful to the book it was. I wish it had stuck a little more to the book, but a lot of the overall story lines stayed the same and I think it was a great, fun movie worth watching. I felt like the book had much more depth and the revenge was better. I think I would pick the book over the movie on this one.
Long Version
The relationship changes are quite drastic from what they are in the book. Here’s the first example of a change. Mondego is Dantes’ friend and not Mercedes’ cousin. This added some interesting drama because it made the betrayal by him even more awful and they probably took away the cousin thing because ew. But I missed the story line of Mondego in the book becoming a Count (he already is one in the movie) by questionable means and then having it come back to haunt him.
The motive behind Dantes carrying the letter that dooms him to prison was to save his life and not as a favor to a dying captain. This makes him look more like a victim and less like an idiot that would carry a letter from Napoleon when he’s been exiled. I’m just realizing as I’m writing this that Dantes was kind of dumb in the book. He’s definitely not dumb after he gets out of prison, but he was to start with. Poor Book Dantes was a victim of his own idiocy.
Dantes gets unjustly arrested. In the movie he’s much more active in fighting against his arrest because he’s smarter apparently than he was in the book. He even gets away and goes to his “friend” Mondego’s house for help! Oops he’s the one that sent him there. Dantes doesn’t find out in the book who betrayed him before he went to prison because, as I’ve said before, he was dumb as a rock.
Chateau D’if
Chateau D’if was a real place. How cool is that?! I don’t know if the movie was filmed here, but I think it’s awesome that this prison is still around so I googled it, of course. As one does.
The prison stay at Chateau D’if and escape was pretty accurate with the book, though they added whipping so that SOMETHING at least is happening. They also notice Dantes is missing when he escapes a lot sooner than they did in the book. And the Warden falling in after Dantes was strange. That wasn’t in the book. I’m not sure what the point of that was.
I loved how the movie added a fight to the death to join the smugglers. It showed Dantes cleverness. In the book he just gets to join when they see how good he is at sailing.
After that, we go straight to Paris and then they go to Italy later which is reverse from the book. Danglars has a career change in the movie – he’s a shipper instead of a banker.
After how long it took in the book, the revenges seem to come one right after the other in the movie. Villefort’s story line was sadly shortened. Villefort kills his father by conspiracy in the movie, but the book was much better because he used his father to play political games to stay on top. It made Villefort a much more shady character. And the whole poisoning story line was left out. Even though it was slow getting around to all the people being poisoned, that was part of the drama of it all. Sadly, Danglars revenge was much better in the book.
Then the end goes out with more drama! And an exciting sword fight! Which, honestly, was an exciting way to end the movie. The end of the book was good as well but it was more of a tying everything up ending.
Overall, I really enjoyed this entertaining adaption but it’s not a very faithful adaption and I enjoyed the depth of the novel much more. So book wins for me!
Movie Trailer
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
I’ve never read the book, but I did really enjoy the movie. I think adaptations can be thought of as a spectrum… with movies on one end of the spectrum sticking to the book as closely as possible, and movies on the other end essentially taking inspiration from a book and going in a new direction with it. Both can be great, as can any of the movies in between those two extremes. But I do try to judge, not on how faithful an adaptation it is, but on how much I enjoyed the movie and how well the movie holds up if you haven’t read the book.
I agree – I don’t like to judge movie adaptions only on if it was faithful to the book. The movie standing on it’s own and being entertaining are important too even if it’s not super faithful to the book. Thanks for the great comment!
I haven’t read this book, but I really enjoyed the movie. I love the main actor, not sure what his name is. Your blog is looking amazing as always! I wish I had more time to check out everyone’s blogs. Thanks for the short or long version option. That was nice. ;)
Thanks for taking part in the Book to Movie Reading Challenge – I have posted a quarterly update today: http://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/book-to-movie-challenge-quarterly-update/
I liked the movie much better than the book, but I think that’s probably at least partly because I saw the movie first. To me, that meant the book felt different from what I expected. I’m also a sucker for a happy ending! The book seemed a bit long-winded to me and the ending was just too depressing. I can definitely understand preferring the greater detail of the novel though and being a bit bothered by a movie which changes a book for greater drama. Great review!
While I appreciate that you even bothered to read the book, as apparently no one else has on this forum, there were a couple things I thought worth pointing out. First off, if your biggest observation of Dantes’ motives and actions in the book are based around “he is dumb” you seem to have missed the point Dumas was making. The story is one of betrayal of a man who is innocent of the darkness of mankind. Happy in his life, with his future wife. He does what he thinks is right because he doesn’t believe there is any other option to be had. It is only after his betrayal, imprisonment, and horrific experiences that he learns what true darkness is. He even says at the end to Morrel “We must have felt what it is to die, Morrell, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.”
On to the film. The issue in the film, and the changes the made were explained perfectly by you when you said “so something is actually happening”. That’s the issue. This book is about a man who sets up his vengeance so that it hits each person where it hurts the most. It is cunning, conniving, and genius. He targets each person at their most beloved things in life (their jobs, their fortunes, their status), and he crushes it. He doesn’t want to fight them, or to kill them. He wants to do what they did to him, tearing everything he loved from him, and destroying his world in the process. His development through the book takes patience, something the younger generation has lost, and if read right, with the time to understand it, this is one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. The biggest insult of the movie is the change to the ending, but I won’t put a massive spoiler like that here.
My comments here are not intended to be mean or demeaning in any way. I am quite passionate about this story (my favorite book of all time), and I hope you can read the book again (and your other commentors might read it for the first time with a different view and, hopefully, appreciation.
Also, I realize this post is a year old, but like I said… passionate
I’m sorry you took issue to me using the word “dumb.” A more politically correct term would be “naive.” He was naive in the book but he definitely doesn’t stay that way. He matures but also loses his innocence. I don’t see why I need to read the book again as I really enjoyed it. Feel free to read my review of it instead of just the movie to book comparison. Thanks for the comment. I like hearing differing views and having discussions.
Amen.
Just a little tidbit that helps you better digest Dumas: this and The Three Musketeers were both written as Journal Publications in several parts. This one in particular was published in 18 parts. It’s almost as if it was a soap opera of its time which is why it seems so drawn out but if you read it as such it’s actually quite interesting (and feels far less tedious). I always picture readers of old getting discouraged when they get to the end, having to wait for the next “episode”. Not much has changed, haha. Great review, thanks for posting!
Yes, finally. I was getting really sad that people liked the movie better. I hated it. If you are going to do an adaptation of such a wonderfull book, at least read. Really bad movie.
I’m currently reading a novel in which the author references a young boy reading “The Count Of Monte Cristo”. The only problem is the author is referring to scenes that were in the film and not in the book. Sad. Even today’s readers should get facts and not fiction. If you use a book, read the book.
I watched the film first and loved it. At first I found the book quite long but slowly l became engrossed and loved the relationships between the characters and the intricate conversations. I didn’t want the book to end. The film was indeed a happy ending. Maybe, even an ending that Dumas would have approved of. The book ending was heartbreaking; it has been over a year since I read it and still my heart hurts for Mercedes. How a man can move on so easily with a younger woman yet Mercedes must grow old alone. Even writing this my eyes are welling up with big fat tears, I can’t cope with this ending – Mercedes alone, life just isn’t fair.
I have just finished reading the book after having been a long time fan of the “Jim and Guy” movie adaptation. All I can truly say is, the book is just better. There is no denying that the emotion that Dumas projects from its pages is unmatched in any other medium. While much of what happened was predictable towards the end of the book, there were MANY points were I pitied Dantés’ victims and felt justified when even HE feared he had gone too far. (The last poison scene was dreadfully sad). The emotions conveyed by the victims in their times of trouble pull at your heartstrings almost to the point you wish with all your heart Dantés would let them go. Maybe that’s just me.
Not just you, I felt that way too, not with everyone though. Funny how books will touch us in very similar and different ways. I’m with you, the book is so much better, it just lets the emotions set in much more, but that’s the nature of the media and not how well the movie was done. The movie was good, but knowing the story and remembering the emotions I felt, for me it sucked. It didn’t brought up any of those emotions. One in particular, the book tells the story of how Dante and Abbe Faria find each other way before they actually see each other after years of isolation, they dig for years and it describes the moment they reach each others hands for the first time. That moment for me, it brought me to tears, the human contact that we give for granted was for Dante an immense gift, a defining moment of his life. The ways Dummas describes it is so powerful. I actually rented the movie on Amazon video one day when I remembered that part. I wanted to see it, that’s the only reason I saw it. To my disappointment a head pops out from the floor a la Cartoon style, wile Dante looks horrified. Sacrilegious! Again, that part touched ME, you need to pick and choose to make movie adaptations. If I’m ever in charge, I would make it a series and that would be season’s one Finale.