Maze Runner: Why Young Adult Novels Make Lousy Movies.

Believe it or not, I read the first 2 books of Maze Runner before even knowing there was going to be a movie, and I kind of like them but the movie not so much, is not like I wanted to be just like the book, but in a similar topic the book makes a little more sense, but the movie clash against itself and leaves you with a lot of questions about the plot, characters and other stuff.

But if you read the title you might have an idea or at least you should be wondering, “If you say the book was better why did you say now that you knew the movie was going to be bad?”

Well that is my point, the book is OK to read, short adventure and an interesting premise, but, there is always a but, it had the same problem that all the Teen fiction or Young Adult novels have. As you might know by now I’ll make a criticism of young adult novels before jumping into the movie, because people needs background to understand the why of things.

Young Adult Novels, ah! The sole name is like a contradiction, it should be call like it is “Teen Fiction” that is what it is, why? Because they are targeted to the teenagers, and if you don’t believe me take a quick look. The heroes are young never after 20 years old, the main protagonist is a stranger in the everyday world is special, so looks of a different world where he/she is also different, but in this world he/she is not only good at it is the best, the one. The main evil are mostly adults is very weird to have another young like the main evil unless that person has raised from the beginning from being a secondary character until he/she becomes the new evil. There is always a romantic interest, which is almost always the first love of both or at least for one of them. There is a character how gets friendzoned but later gets with a sexy secondary character, and so on. But why do I say these novels are bad idea to make them films? Well the devil is on the details, or better said the lack of details, let me explain.

The novels are written explaining the world, the situation, the atmosphere, the looks of everyone and everything can you see what has been left outside? Yep, the psyche of the characters, their back story, what makes them tick! You have some interesting scenarios and situations but you have an empty husk as your main character and point of view. In books like A Game Of Thrones you have a character point of view but they are so fleshed out that you feel like you are beside them and never knowing exactly what else is going on. But when you read a teen fiction novel you know exactly what is on everybody’s mind, because you take over that character and subconsciously you fill all the gaps in personality, backstory, and decisions, you love that character when both have the same idea and hate him/her when there is a lapse of judgement in the character that makes them get into more trouble, you love to get new abilities and after reading it you wonder “what could I do with that ability?”

As you can see teen fiction is the basic model of the videogames, or at least some of them (all the FPS to start) but that is the wonderful of those books, your scape is like the previous version of the “Oculus Rief” the books are fun to read, and not too time consuming, also then you grow out them and discover big people books and you are even more fascinated, because you see fully fleshed characters in problems that they need to think not use new abilities but to came up with a plan.

But then some people thinks that a Teen Fiction is a good idea to make it a movie and you get that the writer (some guy in his 50s) thinks that the characters are not fleshed enough so he puts his magic to work and you end with something that has the same structure and looks that the book had but it is not the same, and most of the time the writer of the screen play is a person that thinks the story will be better different or that is to juvenile or thinks that he is going to tell the fans of the book how it should have been, and ends in something like a bad Fanfick that even the people that liked the book hate the movie.

I know Spiderwick is more like children but gets the same points

This is what happened to Maze Runner, The Mortal Instruments and The Spiderwick Chronicle (I read the 3 stories before watching the movies) and as I said they lose that little extra that you give by reading the books.

So now About Maze Runner, the movie starts almost like the book, the scenery was good and looked like I pictured, but then the story start and all the changes in it made me start thinking that I have read the wrong book, it was similar in some stuff but also changed a lot, and changed for the worst.

Most of the things that happen contradict each other, and why? Because they needed to follow the book but have already said that some things couldn’t happen but in the book had already happen and were important for the plot.

Then I heard that the writer wanted to make something like “Lord of the Flies” what has nothing to do with the book, the book is more about solving problems and tasks to get home, find that no matter how dark the day looks there is always an end or at least a calm place to rest before the next task, but here they forgot everything and make a cliché.

There are so many things that should have been and other that should have never existed, the grievers were nice but the idea that “No one has ever faced one” and then knowing about the sting was a contradiction. The idea of the maze having no roof is dumb because that is the first thing that anyone could try but in the book it had a roof because it was an underground facility and the sun was artificial, so that’s why they could not make a ladder to go over the walls.

The effects were OK but that doesn't make a movie.

So the acting is dull, and the story has more contradictions than the bible, the script feels like a first draft, and the ending lets you thinking “So the story continues, but I don’t care” but the effects are decent.

So if you get intrigued by the story you better read the book is like 250 pages or so a good reader can read it in a afternoon, but if you are like mi it will take you a couple of days.

Don’t watch this movie only if is free or you are watching it on Netflix or something, because is not worthy even the effects, because there are not that many and the acting is worthy of a cheap web series.

If you need to know this movie in my list has :

** 2 stars I didn’t like it and you could watch it if you have nothing to do and is on the TV with nothing else to watch.