'A Walk to Remember' Movie/Book Comparison

Now I remember the time when my sister had wanted me to watch the movie A Walk to Remember. At first I didn't have an interest in watching it. But, after a while of trying to convince me, I decided to give the movie a chance and after watching it, I ended up falling in love with it.

It is such a beautiful story that is being told. I believe that they had done an amazing job putting the movie together and Mandy Moore and Shane West had done amazing playing the characters of Jamie and Landon. It had become one of my absolute favorite movies of all time and I still love to watch here and there. It is my favorite Nicholas Sparks story.

So, since I had fallen in love with the movie, I decided that I was going to read the book written by Nicholas Sparks; and when I did, I saw the major changes that were done to this movie. Now, some movies tend to make changes when it is going to be based on a book. But, as I had read the book that this movie was based on, I couldn't believe the amount of changes that they had done to the movie from the book and these changes that I had found I just want to share in this article.

Now, if you have not seen this movie, I advice you not to read this since it will spoil it for you. But, if you have seen the movie but never read the book, this might be an interesting read.

1). The Date of When the Movie Takes Place

Now when you are watching the movie, you see that the movie is based on the modern time of when the movie was made. The filmmakers of this film decided to keep the movie modern which was done around 2001-2002. But, in the book, the love story had been taking place back in the 1950s as modern day Landon at 57 years old in the 1990s and he talks about his love for Jamie that happened about 40 years earlier when he was 17 years old.

2). Bad Boy Landon

Now in the movie, Landon was first depicted as the real bad boy. Not really going to class, drinking under age and always getting in trouble. Now, although in the book Landon had been known to be getting himself in trouble, he still wasn't the full bad boy that the movie had made him to be. He still did kind things for people and acted kind toward certain people. One of the main things in the book that got Landon in trouble was sneaking into the cemetery with his friends and eating peanuts. Although Landon did pull some pranks with his friends in both the movie and the book, the pranks in the movie were definitely worse than they were in the book. Which, another difference that was made to bring it up here quick since in the movie, they made it seem like Jamie was the one who liked going out to cemetery when in the movie, it was Landon who liked hanging out in the cemetery.

3). Jamie's Treatment At School

In the movie, Jamie was seen to be bullied and made fun of all the time. She really stood mostly to herself and didn't really have much friends. Landon and his friends actually used to always make fun of her. Especially when Belinda planned the photoshop Jamie's face onto an inappropriate picture and making lots of copies and giving it out to all the kids in school. But, in the book, she was definitely treated differently.

Although Landon's friends would talk about Jamie and make fun of her, the second that she was in the room, they would automatically stay silent. Jamie had this presence about her that made people feel a little frightened even though she talked to no one but kindly. Whenever Jamie would go up to a group of people and ask them a question, they would stiffen up and always say yes to her, no matter what it was.

4). The Spring Play

In the movie, the spring play was written by one of the classmates and it was based in an 80s time and Landon becomes a part of the play because of getting himself in a lot of trouble in the very beginning of the movie as part of his punishment. Because it was either that or he would've been expelled from the school altogether. But, in the book, the play was written by Jamie's father and how he struggled to becoming her father as her mother has passed away. The play was done at the theater in the town and originally the townspeople wanted to have actors play the roles. But her father, the minister of the town, wanted the high school students to put on the play every year. So the seniors of the high school every spring would put the play on for the town. Landon ended up in the play because he chose drama to be his elective class since he didn't like any other elective class. Then Landon got the role of the lead character since there were only three boys in the class, and the one to play the part wasn't meant for the role. So Jamie kindly asked Landon if he could play the role and he said yes. And just like in both the movie and the book, Landon and Jamie worked together on the play and she made him promise that he wasn't going to fall in love with her, which he thought was a foolish thing to happen but he promised anyway. Then at the play, that's when he realized that he did love her.

5). Landon's Dad

Before I forget, I want to mention about Landon's father. In the movie, Landon's father is a doctor and had left both Landon and his mom when Landon was younger. The relationship isn't a great one since Landon never got over him leaving them and doesn't want anything to do with his father. Meanwhile, in the book, his father is a Congressman. He goes back and forth between their home in Beaufort, North Carolina and Washington D.C. Landon doesn't get along with his father very much but his father pressures him into becoming the class president at the high school.

6). Landon's Confesses His Love to Jamie and Jamie's Reavel of Her Illness

Now, these are very important parts of both the book and the movie. Landon confessing his love to Jamie is the start of their relationship and Jamie being sick with leukemia shows how strong love is doing.

In the movie, Landon takes Jamie to a nice restaurant and they spend the night together completing things that Jamie had on her list that she wanted to do. Going towards the end of the night, Landon confesses to Jamie that he loves her and she stands there in shock, saying that she had told him not to fall in love with her. But, they end up dating for quite some time and it was one night while they were together. Landon asked Jamie what were her plans for the future and she said that she didn't have any plans. Then when he asks her what she is going to do, Jamie tell Landon that she is sick with leukemia and ran off home.

Meanwhile, in the book, as Landon does take Jamie to a nice restaurant and they have a nice time together. Then Landon waits a couple of weeks to tell Jamie that he loves her. When Jamie insists that he cannot be in love with her, Landon becomes upset and demands to know why. That was then, when Jamie decides to tell him that she is dying of leukemia.

7). Landon's and Jamie's Wedding

Now in both the movie and book, Landon and Jamie do end up getting married. But in the movie, Jamie was able to walk along side her father and hold Landon's hand once the two of them are together at the alter. Meanwhile, in the book, because of the fact that Jamie was so sick and the leukemia was eating away at her. It was a struggle for Jamie to walk down the aisle, even though that was what she wanted. Also she sat down in her wheelchair once at the alter and Landon kneeled down in front of her so that way they can see each other at the same level.

***

There are some differences in this movie when comparing it to the book. But I love it nonetheless and I hope there are other people out there who love it as well.

And like I said before, for anyone who has never seen the movie before or read the book. I advise not to read this as it might be a spoiler alert if you are interested in either the movie or the book or even both. It is an incredible film and something that I have admire and hoped to find love the way Landon loves Jamie.

In the end, Landon says, "Her love is like the wind. I can't see it, but I can feel it."