Unique Story

I love to read and am normally VERY critical of adaptations of books I have read so I can sympathize with fans of these books who might not be pleased with the adaption. I had similar feelings about Twilight and now Vampire Academy coming out. IMO, I think the only book series that really adapted "well" to the big screen were Harry Potter and the Hunger Games series and I'm sure even those had their complaints.

I have NOT read these books and decided to give the movie a try anyway since I love supernatural/adventure books. Without having read the books and watching it as an entertaining new movie series I found myself very entertained. I loved the characters, I think the actors did an overall good job and for the most part I felt like the movie was good. The movie actually made me go out and buy the books because I wanted to know what else I was missing and what is going to happen to these characters. I really had no negative feelings about the movie and thought it was pretty good.

However, when you read a book it's like your baby and you imagine it to be one way and when the adaptation is not, it's easy to find yourself disappointed. I would say that if you can be open minded and just want something to watch, give it a chance. I personally liked this movie better than Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters which was okay too.

Edited on January 16th, 2014:
A few days after writing this review I received my copy of City of Bones and read the whole book. After reading the book and comparing it closely with the movie I can honestly say this movie is an amazing adaptation of this book. Many of the lines are verbatim to the book and sequence of events. With a few changes here and there which I think ultimately improved the movie. Some of the locations/where the events occur are different but very few. Jace's character was a bit different as well in the beginning but it didn't really make a big difference for me. I would say about 90% of the book is accurate to the movie. The only aspect of the movie I would have changed at this point was the romance scene. It wasn't like the scene in the book was all that romantic and detailed either but the sprinklers in the movie was an unnecessary add-on. It could have been more romantic/naturally done. Overall, if you didn't read the books you're not missing much. The movie is a great adaptation of the storyline and in my opinion I actually prefer it's direction over the book. I hope that helps! Just watch the movie. xD

Never read the book, but I really enjoyed the movie. Needed some better slap stick comedy with those two goons chasing everyone around the castle. Had the right idea though for the most part.

this movie left me in such a shock that i dont have words. its good.

My attempt to describe this movie without giving anything away:

This movie wasn't bad. I'm always interested in seeing how books translate to film, and overall, this didn't fail. It wasn't completely spectacular, but if you've read the book(s), I'm sure you'll find it interesting and gratifying to see this interpretation.

What I liked:
1. The actors did a pretty good job. I thought they were true to the characters in the book.
2. Effects were well done. I could tell that great care was taken with some of the camera angles, which I appreciated.
3. No major "over-exaggeration." I was afraid this movie was going to be stupid, which would have been easy given the story, which successfully walks a fine line between creative and silly. Thankfully, nothing in the movie crossed into silly, either.

My problems with it were:
1. the storyline felt very rushed - not just the progression of events, but even the dialogue. The actors seemed like they were racing to get words out as quickly as possible, like they were being timed.
2. Wasn't crazy about the changes to the storyline. I feel like this story requires continuity. The climax of this movie was very different than the book version. It wasn't terrible, but it makes me nervous for the possibility of future movies. Did they deviate too far?
3. A little too much action: there wasn't enough down time between action scenes, which is probably why this movie felt rushed. Even action films need to breathe a little. Let the characters develop.

My wife and I have been waiting to watch this. Waiting because we wanted it to be free. So after some drinks we decided to rent it, just for the hell of it, and see just how good or (more likely) terrible it really was.

So...

Production Value: Yeah, they spent some money on this. Sets are pretty nice. The institute is reminiscent of Hogwarts, just without any of the personality to really bring it to life. CGI is not top of the line but they're trying. Costumes are a little ridiculous at times but I've seen worse on people in real life.

Story: There's actually a story here. It's trying, to some degree. But it's hampered by some truly crap-tastic exposition dumps and terrible dialogue/character decisions. It's not well done and quite frankly, it's rather tedious. It hits multiple tropes and memes that are staples in the action/fantasy/romance worlds, which means its retreading territory others have already covered and much better than this movie ever could. They also like to pull some of the standard story gags and they all just fall completely flat.

Acting: Stiff and generally underwhelming. I'm not sure if it's the actors or just the material they were given to work with but it's pretty Mediocre. Overall score of MEH. Let me be clear, it's not terrible. It's just generally forgettable and uninteresting. The love parallelogram is so completely underdeveloped that's it's laughable whenever we get to a point where a character should be faced with a choice/hard decision/tough conversation with their interest/their competition. It's all telegraphed without any real development and then your supposed to buy into the bigger scenes because...well, just because. Too bad you're not given a reason to care about any of the characters. Also, random sprinklers? Really? Not sexy, just cheesy.

Overall: The books are probably decent? I don't know. I've no intention of reading them. I'm not a huge fan of when fan-fic becomes published. Too many holes and stolen plot devices that never quite fit together. The movie is pretty blah. I'd recommend waiting until it's free cause it's definitely not worth the rental price. That'll probably be another year or so as they try to milk all the money they can from the YA fans who love this series so much. This movie just isn't worth your time until it's free on Prime or Netflix.

Side note: If you've seen the D&D movie I feel like the stupid over-the-top scenes in that hot mess give you a good primer on the sort of shtick to expect from this poor mess.

I am very sorry that I have to give this movie such a poor rating. I have read all the books, and was excited to watch the movie. I was even inclined to judge it more favorably after I read that the movie did very poorly. Caring for the underdog. Unfortunately, I can see why the movie did poorly.

If I hadn't read the books, I would have no idea what was going on. Literally no idea. The movie doesn't explain anything, and the tremendous detail and back story is what makes the book compelling. Speaking of compelling, I didn't find enough dialogue between the characters to create any sort of compelling relationships. When Clary and Jace kiss, I felt it was very premature because they had barely spoken to one another. Every other relationship and event is underdeveloped. Granted, I know this is a common problem for book to movie adaptations. But I really feel that nothing was explained. It wasn't clear, for example, that the werewolves were rescuing Clary. The purpose of Mortal Cup and Valentine's mission was barely explained. Who Hodge was and what he did was barely explained. What Jocelyn and Luke did in their past was also unclear. What Jace believes about Valentine is unclear. I really feel that someone who hadn't read the books would have no idea what was going on.

Also, a lot of things have been changed from the book. One thing that bothered me was that the vampires looked like monsters. They were supposed to be beautiful people, not ugly. And the entire last part of the movie is completely different than the book.

Anyway. The costumes and set were beautiful. The casting was perfect. I really thought the characters looked the part, though their acting was so so. Sometimes ok and sometimes bad.

Again, I hate to give it a bad review but I was disappointed.

This movie was really great.. but the movie is nothing like the book really. I have read all of the books that have been released and in the first book a lot of what is in the film did not actually happen in the book. For instance in the beginning of the movie where Jace killed the demon in the apartment;Clary actually did that in the book. Not to mention the scene where they go rescue Simon from the vampires ( In the book Simon was turned into a rat) and it was just Clary and Jace that rescued him, not all of them. And at the end of the movie when Jace is battling Valentine and Clary saved him and she still had the mortal cup in the card, well that's not what happens in the book. In the book it was Luke battling Valentine and Valentine got away with the cup. I can go on and on how different the book is from the actual movie but in all actuality it doesn't matter. This movie was great and I am happy that their going to make the next book into a movie ( hopefully more like the book this time) I hope they make the entire series into movies,because it's one thing to read a book and picture it in your mind and another to see it happening. This movie still kept me entertained. I thought it was great. Can't wait for the next movie to come out. And for those who haven't read the books and only watch the movies well you missed one he'll of a good read.