Like many other John Green fans, I was over the moon excited for the movie adapation of Paper Towns. Unfortunately, I was let down by how far it strayed from the book. Warning: This list has spoilers!
1. The road trip.
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Why couldn't they have it on the day of graduation? We could have just skipped straight on to graduation; no problem. While the slow motion prom dancing was a nice way to end the movie, I would have much rather have had the roadtrip in the correct spot.
2. The casting of Margo.
In case you don't remember, Margo is supposed to be curvy. At the beginning, there is a whole paragraph on the size of her butt! Cara did wonderful as an actress, but I was totally hoping for a curvy heroine.
3. There was no Seaworld.
I understand why, I mean I'm sure it would have been extremely expensive to film at Seaworld. But that doesn't stop me from being sad that it wasn't there.
4. Why does the road trip have to be the way it is?
Why don't we break down the parts of the car? Why isn't there more of it in the movie?
5. Speaking of the road trip, The Dreidel was completely left out.
I can't explain why, but the naming of Q's van and the story that goes along with it was one of my favorite parts of the book. At least the cow part was included in the movie!
6. Margo wasn't at the General Store in Agloe.
They are supposed to see her car at the store before actually finding her in the building. Of all the easy things to get right, this is one of them.
7. They left Q.
Q's friends left him in Agloe. When would that happen? Who would trust their heartbroken friend to catch a bus from the middle of no where back to Orlando?
8. There isn't more of Ben drunk.
The actor who played him did a great job, and I wish there was more of him being intoxicated. It would have been hilarious.
9. Angela goes on the road trip.
I don't know why this bothered me so much because I enjoyed Radar and Angela's relationship, but she isn't supposed to be on the road trip. This was another easy thing they could have kept the same between the movie and the book.
10. The cereal box line was missing.
When Quentin tells her she is beautiful, Margo says she doesn't like being called beautiful because it's like choosing your cereal based on color and not taste. A wonderful thought to impart on the masses seems to have been cut from the movie script, but I guess you can't have everything.
All in all, the movie itself was amazing, the interactions between Q, Radar, and Ben were pure gold, and it captured the feeling of the book very well! The movie was so close to perfection, but felt short by a few details.
