Yesterday afternoon I was eager to see the anticipated New York Times best seller turned Blockbuster hit “I Am Number Four”. I most recently finished the book and looked forward to see the story come to life on the movie screen. Unfortunately, not only did the movie fail to live up to the legacy left by its inspiration, the movie was slightly painful and awkward to sit through. I had a similar sensation when I went to the opening premiere of “Eragon”. Oddly enough, Eragon also begin as a New York Times best seller young adult fantasy novel and the movie too lacked the magic that drew audiences to the book in the first place. I remember convincing a few of my frat brothers – yes once upon a time I was in a fraternity … well a gay one, but none the less – to go see Eragon with me. Skeptical of talking CGI dragons and a dubious storyline, it took a few bribes, tons of begging, and an act of God to even get them into the theater. What ensued then was two hours of sheer embarrassment; I was embarrassed to be watching the movie and embarrassed that I convinced six other people to witness the devastation with me – six people who still haven’t let me forget about it

The movie was in general disappointing and at times boring. Alex Pettyfer plays John Smith, an orphaned alien on the run with his guardian, from a race of killer aliens. Though gorgeous beyond question, Pettyfer lacked any depth or emotional complexity. He spoke in the same monotone voice throughout the majority of the movie. Dianna Argon plays Sarah, the once cheerleader and former girlfriend to the quarterback, who realized her boyfriend and friends were shallow and decides to turn her focus toward photography and a life out of Paradise, Ohio. She played an exact copy of her GLEE character Quinn and brought nothing new nor original to the character. The best parts of the movie involved John’s adorable magically-transforming beagle and the sassy attitude of Number Six. Alex and Dianna’s on-screen romance was stagnant and inauthentic and audiences found themselves chuckling at the obviously clichéd lines. Perhaps that is why Alex and Dianna broke up in real life, no chemistry – that or they were mortified by each other’s on screen performance.    

So I am about to go on a geeky rant about the pitfalls of the movie. If you intend on seeing the movie and wish to be “surprised” then read no further and good luck, perhaps you will have a different interpretation than I.

In the book one of the first appearances of John’s power is a bright light that shines from his hands. Aptly named “Lumen”, meaning light in Latin, this is a typical first Legacy to inherit. Apparently in movie world a power like that translates into freaking laser beams and the ability to re-charge a fallen comrade. Similarly one of the coolest parts of having this perhaps seemingly uncool power is that it made John resistant to heat and fire, which the directors neglected to include in the movie.

Secondly, the Mogadorians in the book are a creepy and incredibly powerful race of super aliens. They were able to take down an entire planet full of people with super powers. In the book, the authors build tension and emphasize the importance of keeping hidden from the Mogs because they are so hard to kill. The movie makes them out to be a band of easily disposed of storm troopers. An epic moment in the book centers on John’s first encounter battling a Mog – a battle that zaps John of all of his strength and nearly kills him. John and the intrepid Number 6 were able to take down all of the bad guys – of which there were about 8 - in a matter of minutes in some sci-fi Rambo action flick. Umm excuse me, if these awful evil super aliens are so easily defeated … why are you running? Also, if you are a Mog and these children could be the key to your downfall, wouldn’t you send your entire army to ensure their demise, not a skeleton crew of idiots?

I understand that movies cannot entirely capture every element of the book, but seriously. Why, when you basically have a script in hand do you feel the need to alter important plot details such as, oh I don’t know, unnecessarily killing one of the main characters for dramatic effect. Henri, John’s grizzly alien protector, is anti-climatically killed during the end of the movie for no good reason. In the book, Henri was a protector who not only raised and loved John as his own son but trained and helped John hone his new powers so that he might one day be strong enough to battle the Mogs. In the movie, John acquired his powers with little or no problems or side effects, received no training on how to control his powers, and Henri served as the generally creepy man who found photos and videos of John on the internet and deleted them – way to cut out about 65% on the novel.

What is most troubling is that, aside from the Harry Potter series, very few teen fantasy novels have successfully translated from the text to the silver screen.  More often than not, directors rely on a hot blonde male lead and dazzling special effects to confuse audiences into thinking the movie is actually good.  Movie adaptations for critically acclaimed teen fantasy novels “City of Bones” – also starring Alex Pettyfer - and “The Hunger Games” are already in production. I just hope that they are even marginally better than “I Am Number Four” and Hollywood does not continue to butcher and distort these popular and loved books. 

Final recommendation is to wait until I Am Number Four arrives at Redbox and watch it then ... and even then approach with caution. If you are looking for answers to life, comedic relief, or a compelling and engaging story, then watch Dogma and forgo this movie experience. 

I have no shame in bypassing the Classics section, the New York Times best sellers, and Oprah’s choice of the month in order to make my way to a growing sensation; the young adult/teen sci-fi fantasy section. The Twilight series has certainly sparked a wave of writers tailoring their books to grab the attention of pre-teen (and adult) populations everywhere.

I have noticed a pattern inherent in all of these books. Invariably there are hot people with incredible powers – whether through magic, alien heritage, or supernatural curses – who find themselves in small remote towns that later plays as the stage for an epic war. Most of the time the teenager in question desires one of two things; a break from the mundaity and ordinariness of their miserable, yet privileged, lives or the opposite, a desire to be normal and experience the everyday rituals that we take for granted.  Similarly, the book usually includes a love story sub plot that is often the cause of all the trouble - like some modern day Romeo and Juliet. I rather enjoy these books for there is just enough "human drama" to make it relatable but the majority of the novel is epic battles and displays of incredible powers.

Most recently I have fallen in love with the novel “I Am Number Four”; a four hundred and some page book that I voraciously finished in one day.  The novel relates the story of a planet named Lorien, not unlike our Earth, which was savagely attacked by a race of harbingers known as the Mogadorians. In order preserve the culture and give their people a chance of survival, nine alien children were sent to Earth. They were scattered throughout the world, each given a protector to guide them and develop their powers, so that one day they may reunite, defeat the Mogadorians, and restore life to their once beautiful planet. A clever nuance of the story is that the aliens can only be killed in sequence.The book opens with the death of #3, thus prompting #4 to go into hiding in a small remote Ohio town known as Paradise. Here #4 - also known as John Smith - must develop his supernatural abilities (known as Legacies) before the Mogadorians can track him down and kill him. The Legacies can be anything from invisibility, controlling the elements, creating light, and telekinesis. This series is projected to have 5 more additional novels, and if they are anything like their predecessor, this will surely be the next Harry Potter series of the sci-fi world. What sucks is that fans will have to begrudingly wait until August for the release of the next novel entitled "The Power of Six".

The novel has garnered enough attention that it is about to be released as a major motion picture February 18th. Typically I am leery of books getting converted into movies for they usually fail to meet the expectations of the book lovers. Typically the characters lack authenticity, story lines are dropped, and new elements are added to the movie that was found nowhere in the book. I am actually extremely excited for this release of this movie. Sporting an impressive cast ( Alex Pettyfer, GLEE's Dianna Argon, and Timothy Olyphant), critics have expressed that the movie is an excellent tension-filled adventure that stays very true to the original novel. If nothing else, the movie is going to feature the ridiculously hot Alex Pettyfer - who often gets his clothes burned up in the novel - and the grizzly hotness of Timothy Olyphant, as they battle aliens with really cool powers. It honestly doesn't take much to amuse me these days. Check out the trailer for the movie before.