Sunday, July 25, 2010

The REAL Beezus and Ramona

If you're a child of the 80s, you've read all of the Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary or at least heard of them. And you've probably seen the trailer for the new Ramona and Beezus movie... and then promptly vomited in your mouth. (I won't link to it here, so google it if you haven't watched it yet. Also, "A little sister goes a long way" as the tagline? WTF does that mean?)

If you did in fact see the trailer for the movie, you can quickly tell that Hollywood managed again to take a beautiful, real story and turn it into crap by packaging it in a perfect, picturesque pile of baloney.
I haven't read the books since I was young, but now I want to go find all of those weird colored hardbacks that smell like old paper and glue and bury my tears in them. Any fan of a great book can't help but be excited about the prospect of seeing characters you envision in your mind come to life. But then it's always a crapshoot if the producers are going to find the right director and cast to make it happen the right way. It seems of late, they screw it up more than they do it right. Harry Potter is the only series that comes to mind that did it right, even if it's not perfect for everyone. Still, it captured the magic of the wizarding world in an enrapturing way.

But the Ramona books are more about capturing the essence of childhood and growing up - being awkward, inappropriate, ugly and hating your sister. Not chasing after boys, wearing makeup and annoying your sister only to later hear her say "Oh Ramona, even though you painted on the wall, I still love you and appreciate your individualism. Sorry I ever took you for granted!" Smile. Pose. Hug. Get the boy at the end.

In this case, Hollywood should've just left it alone. I won't watch the movie. I know what the real Beezus and Ramona look and act like. See below.

4 comments:

  1. COMPLETELY AGREEE!!!!!!! I loved these books growing up and was extremely disappointed by the trailer. :( Hollywood Fail.

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  2. The only childhood book that didn't completely fail as a movie to me was "the Lion, witch and wardrobe" because it wasn't cheesy. It didn't capture the whole story but the actors weren't b stars in Hollywood tossed in. I'm sad that they took a book I loved reading with my girls and destroyed it

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  3. I absolutely loved Ramona, even have a postcard from the author after I wrote her when I was a kid! I'm not overly thrilled about how the focus seems now to be completely on Beezus, but Cami wants to see it, so we're going to go. She's read the books, too, so I'll let you know how it goes.

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  4. Yes, yes, yes! I think I saw the trailer but thankfully have forgotten most of it. Canada did a much better job with the TV series that came on in the 90s. It starred Sarah Polley as our Ramona and she WAS Ramona. I doubt that show is even available on DVD but I'll look around for it. That was my first encounter with Sarah Polley and I have loved her ever since (loved her in Road to Avonlea, also on CBC).

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