Movie Review- Where the Crawdads Sing

Produced from the best-seller novel, Where the Crawdads Sing has recently been released to theaters. As someone who's read the book as well, I was hoping for a very accurate representation of the characters. That being said, I am now a big Daisy Edgar-Jones fan because I think she pulled off Kya incredibly well.

I was skeptical when I first saw the movie trailer, nervous that the film would botch the book and take away from the mindfulness of the story. However, I was pleasantly surprised and disappointed when I went to see it in theaters the day it came out. Thankfully, everything that I could remember being in the book was included in the film.

That being said, I think the main reason that I liked the movie was that I wanted to see one of my favorite books adapted to the big screen. Every book adaptation though will have challenges as you try to go from page to screen. Books don't have time limits and the story was originally made to be typed, so you can face a lot of issues when trying to adapt something that wasn't written for film. One of the things that the movie lacked because of this was pacing.

In the book, the narrative goes back and forth between the court scene of Kya's trial and her life growing up on the marsh. They tried their best to angle the movie the same way but some parts were just not coherent. One of the things that perhaps dragged me down a little bit was the lack of suspense. What made the book so edgy unfortunately just didn't translate very well. If the movie was the first time I was introduced to the plot I would see it as rather dull and a little expendable which is not a problem the original novel had.

I think the actors did the best with what they were given but the book just has grit that the movie doesn't. Some parts felt rushed and because of that I felt left a little robbed of the plot I was promised. Kya in the books is a down-to-earth, pushed-out-of-society, recluse. In the movie, she looked more like an Instagram model ready to pose online in front of pretty scenery to get likes. Again, I love Daisy Edgar-Jones and I think her acting was high-level but the costume directors should have rubbed some dirt on her face or something- It felt like the producers cared more about the aesthetic and how cute Daisy would look in ditsy summer dresses than portraying an accurate character.

I will give the director applause for managing to pull off Chase's character. I thought of him just as much of a bully in the movie as I did in the books. The actors gave everything they had and I appreciated their efforts.

Where the Crawdads Sing is definitely one of those movies that as a book lover I would like because I want to see how real people envision the characters. That being said, I was able to watch the film lightheartedly and not pick it apart that much. Like every book adaptation, something is inevitably going to not be exactly right. I didn't even mind that the movie made the plot entirely too predictable because I already knew all the plot twists, I just wanted to see actors try to take on my favorite characters.

Overall I wouldn't go to the theaters expecting all that much, but it is book accurate and a fun movie if you don't take it too seriously. And ironically enough if you've been watching the news, Delia Owens, the author of the novel is currently wanted for murder- the very thing she wrote her book on.