Into the Wild: Movie vs. Book

Though I did not so much enjoy the book version of Into the Wild, I did enjoy the movie. The movie was more from the perspective of Chris (played by Emile Hirsch) and from his point of view as he went on his journey. The film was narrated by both Chris himself and by his little sister Carine (played by Jena Malone). Though it was based on the real life of Chris McCandless, there was some fictional elements to this story. A whole romance between one of the girls that he meets along his journey that was probably added to the movie for a more dramatic effect when Chris leaves. It held pretty true to what was known about Chris’s life and travels, just a little bit of drama added to make the movie more exciting for the viewer. I really liked the way that the film cut back and forth between Chris’s travel life and his life before it left. This was another thing that I think held the viewer engaged and really helped the movie from getting too boring, or from dragging too much. The film itself had great cinematography and was beautifully shot. I think had I not read the book before seeing the movie, I would have enjoyed the movie much more because I wouldn’t have associated how much I didn’t enjoy the book, with the movie. Overall though, I really did appreciate the movie much more than the book.