Novel turned movie "Sparks" emotional response
Michelle Chalkey
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Features
There's something about a Nicholas Sparks novel adapted into a movie that is bound to fill a theater with sniffles and tears. Sparks has had five of his bestselling novels adapted into major motion pictures--Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, and Dear John, which just hit theaters Feb. 5. People go through different experiences between reading a book and watching a movie, but which of these works better for Sparks fans?
Notorious for writing amazing love stories, Sparks has a way about making his readers feel the love between two characters. In order to feel that love from the movie version, the responsibility lies in the actors. We all remember Noah and Ally on a first-name basis from The Notebook. The chemistry between the actors, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, leapt off the screen, and we felt for them. When Noah built the house hoping Ally would find him, we admired him. When Ally chose Noah, we were relieved. When they danced together as an old couple in the nursing home, we cried that a love story as great as theirs could be lost to Alzheimer's. We loved them.
Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried have topped the chemistry of any other Sparks adaptation in Dear John. There aren't two better people to have played the roles of John and Savannah. John is a soldier in the U.S. army, portrayed by Sparks to be a big tough guy but also a romantic. Tatum screams that role with his perfectly built body and his sweet face. Savannah is a college student studying special education and always doing the right thing. If people can forget that Seyfried played the dumb-blonde role of Karen in Mean Girls, it's easier to accept her as the sweet and innocent Savannah.
After seeing the other Sparks movies, you have to expect these two characters to break our hearts at some point. They kind of torture viewers through the whole movie since they rarely get to see each other. Set in 2001, John and Savannah meet while she is on spring break and John is on a two-week leave. They spend two weeks together, fall in love, and then are forced to spend the next year apart. Their relationship is kept alive by sending letters. They get to see each other for only a day when John comes back after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Then John must reenlist for another two years.
Notorious for writing amazing love stories, Sparks has a way about making his readers feel the love between two characters. In order to feel that love from the movie version, the responsibility lies in the actors. We all remember Noah and Ally on a first-name basis from The Notebook. The chemistry between the actors, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, leapt off the screen, and we felt for them. When Noah built the house hoping Ally would find him, we admired him. When Ally chose Noah, we were relieved. When they danced together as an old couple in the nursing home, we cried that a love story as great as theirs could be lost to Alzheimer's. We loved them.
Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried have topped the chemistry of any other Sparks adaptation in Dear John. There aren't two better people to have played the roles of John and Savannah. John is a soldier in the U.S. army, portrayed by Sparks to be a big tough guy but also a romantic. Tatum screams that role with his perfectly built body and his sweet face. Savannah is a college student studying special education and always doing the right thing. If people can forget that Seyfried played the dumb-blonde role of Karen in Mean Girls, it's easier to accept her as the sweet and innocent Savannah.
After seeing the other Sparks movies, you have to expect these two characters to break our hearts at some point. They kind of torture viewers through the whole movie since they rarely get to see each other. Set in 2001, John and Savannah meet while she is on spring break and John is on a two-week leave. They spend two weeks together, fall in love, and then are forced to spend the next year apart. Their relationship is kept alive by sending letters. They get to see each other for only a day when John comes back after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Then John must reenlist for another two years.
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