Good Night, Mr. Tom - Movie vs. Novel

A Critique by Stephanie T.

When a good book is written, sometimes a movie is made out of it. One book that was turned into a movie was Goodnight, Mr. Tom. This book is about a boy, William Beech, who is an evacuee from London. He is being taken to the country because of the threat of war, to live with Mr. Oakley, a gruff old man. He received the love from Mr. Oakley that he did not receive from his mother who had sorely mistreated him. The book and the movie are much alike, but there are also many differences.

One difference that really sticks out is when Willie makes friends with the rest of the neighborhood. The movie does include Zach, his friend, but not the rest of the children. This part is important because Willie learns the meaning of friendship. Another reason why this is an important part to the story is because Willie becomes known as "Will," an energetic and lovable friend, and not the shy and obedient evacuee. The movie really does not capture this part, which is a major part of the book.

Although the movie did not explain Will, it did capture Willie. The movie showed the relationship between Willie and his mother very well. In some parts when Willie is back home with his mother, it seems that the movie quoted the book because the scenes were so much alike. The movie shows in detail, how Willie finally questions the way his mother acts and thinks when Willie sees that she had left the baby by itself. If Willie had not been with Mr. Tom, he probably would not have thought that it was wrong to do this because his mother would have told him that it was not wrong.

Near the end of the book, Goodnight, Mr. Tom, a man named Geofrey comes into the story and teaches Willie many valuable lessons about life. The movie cuts this out completely. Some people may disagree as to whether this was an important part of the story or not. Although Geofrey was an important person to Willie, he was not a main character and didn't have as much of an affect on Willie as Tom did. Tom helped develop Willie into Will and taught him the meaning of love. Geofrey did teach Willie many things but not enough to make him an important character in the book. On the other hand, some people may think that Geofrey was, in fact, an important role and should have been included in the movie because he helped Will deal with Zack's death.

The book and the movie Goodnight, Mr. Tom have both similarities and differences. Although the book was more informative and added more detail, the movie did capture many concepts in the book, but it also left out some. Overall, this was an interesting and well-written book, which was probably why it was chosen to be made into a movie.

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