Elaine and I went to see this over the weekend, and let me tell you, thank goodness I took another hormonally challenged pregnant women with me.  By the time we both walked out of the theater we were blubbering messes.  I honestly would have been better off waiting for this to come out on dvd so I could sniffle in private over a large container of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.  I’ve read the book but it was so long ago, all I could remember was that I cried, there was a lot of nudity, and it was really good- which just about sums up the movie perfectly as well (except the nudity part is extremely tasteful).  Elaine will give you a little better review of the differences between the two.  For my own part I enjoyed the movie, it’s just not very light hearted fair- so go in with some tissues handy.

OK, Elaine writing now. I appreciate Laura’s thoughts, because as a whole, that sums up the movie. It was sweet, sad at parts, had some occasional comic relief, followed the book fairly well, and if you like a tear-jerking movie, you’ll probably enjoy it.

Now, on to my critique. I’ve read a lot of books-turned-to-movies, and seen the movies as well. Harry Potter, Twilight, The Bourne Identity, Da Vinci Code, The Green Mile, etc. And generally, I’ve been pretty pleased. However, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book so close to seeing the movie. I’ve either had a few months (or years) in between, or I’ve read an entire series before seeing the movie associated with the first book. So, never has a book been so fresh in my mind as I watched “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” And, for me, that was a problem. I remembered every detail, and found myself analyzing every change. Because time-traveling is such a unique topic, you can show things in whatever order… either from the perspective of the traveler, or the travelee. (Yes, I just made up that word.) Basically, I found that the movie showed things in a different order than the book. I was possibly a little easier to follow than the book, but it still bothered me a little.

The only other critique I have is just that of not being able to show/tell every detail in the book. And some seemed more significant than others. It’s not that the movie didn’t make sense- it totally did- but I felt it would have been more complete with a few extra background details I had remembered in my mind.

Ultimately, I really liked the movie. But, had I seen it before I read the book, or at least waited a few months in between, I would have loved it! My recommendation is to go see the movie- and then go read the book. I think you’ll get to enjoy both equally. And you can choose which ending you prefer! I couldn’t believe they changed the ending! (I still haven’t decided… both were equally good.)