I watched this movie years ago, before I read the book or even knew a book existed. I remember enjoying it overall. Now that I’ve read the book, I re-watched the movie, and didn’t particularly like it as much this time. Of course, that has a lot to do with the deviations the movie makes from the book, some of which I just don’t even understand the reason for. Of course some things have to be cut out for the sake of time in a movie, and movie makers often want to make their movie more exciting and add more action and such. Below is a list, not by any means exhaustive, of the things that stuck out to me the most, for good, bad, or neutral (mostly for bad, in my opinion).

Spoiler notice: Since it’s too difficult to explain these differences without spoiling the book, I’ll just say that if you haven’t read it or watched the movie and don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read on.

• I definitely read “Henri” as the French version, since in the book, he has an accent that is reminiscent of French and chose his name to match. In the movie, he’s just “Henry.” This probably bothers me more than it should.
• Henri is…cold, gruff, not at all like the firm but kind Henri in the book. His relationship with Four is also not close and father-and-son-like.
• Sarah is also pretty cold when she meets John, which is unlike the book.
• In the movie, Henri doesn’t want John to go to school when they move to Ohio; John insists. This kind of just adds to the feeling I get that these don’t care as much about each other as they do in the book.
• We know from the beginning that Bernie Kosar was the gecko in Florida, though not that he’s a protector. I liked the reveal of him being special (though I had begun to suspect anyway), but at least there’s (so far) suspense for the viewer about him being alien, but not knowing if he’s good or bad.
• There is no explanation of the scars (which I’m pretty sure are supposed to be stripes, not spirals) as something they expect, no charm that forces them to be killed in order. The movie  Mogodorians are apparently just OCD.
• He doesn’t know about his Legacies until the first one hits!!! And his ability to throw really hard is…new and surprising? In the book, he and Henri are anticipating his Legacies, and super strength, speed, etc. are common to all Garde, yet it’s clearly not something he expected in the movie.
• The Lumen turned off so much more quickly in the movie than in the book. Like, it really wasn’t even all that hard on him. And in the end, he has flashlights on his hands, but he never becomes fireproof. But apparently Six is fireproof?
• And then he sneaks out like someone who has no regard for his or his guardian’s life…and suddenly he can perform acrobatics and is quickly figuring out all sorts of stuff he can do randomly…there’s just no real logic behind any of it, and he doesn’t really have to work for any of it.
• John in the book makes some mistakes, but generally understands the stakes and listens to Henri. Movie John is willfully disobedient and just stupid, like blowing out lights along the street for fun.
• Sam gets an answer about his dad in the movie…that really surprised me!
• Henri tells John to bring others together, which in the book was a huge decision John had to make on his own, since doing so would break the charm that kept them mostly safe. Though I guess it’s not as scary of a prospect in the movie, since the charm doesn’t exist.
• Henri dies much earlier in the movie.

There’s more involving Number Six and their abilities and powers that was different, but it was mostly minor in comparison and seemed more neutral if anything. It’s a little sad that I liked the movie before, but after reading the book, it just didn’t feel right. I’m glad they didn’t make more like they had originally planned. I’ve seen that there might be a reboot, and I’d certainly give that a chance too, but this first one just didn’t do the book justice, in my opinion.

Have you read the book? Seen the movie? What are your thoughts on either, or both?