tomorrow when the war began movie - my review

Last night I joined a throng of teenagers to enjoy a free preview screening of the tomorrow when the war began movie (thanks to myspace and black curtain screening).  Having imagined this book turned into a film for many many years, I had high hopes.  I grew up on this series and am a very big John Marsden fan.  I seriously doubted that the movie could ever be as good as the book but I was excited to see it come to life none the less.

The good bits

• It was fast-paced - lots of action and it flowed really well
• There some great snippets of humour courtesy of Homer and stoner Chris - very much geared at the teenage set and judging by the cinema I was sitting in, it certainly hit the mark!
• I was very pleasantly suprised by the soundtrack - some great Aussie songs were thrown in that reminded me of being a teenager too 
• I think the casting was pretty good (if not perfect).  Ashleigh Cummings (aka Robyn) was brilliant and sat really well with the way I imagined that character.  
• The scenery was great.  Hell looked as I imagined it.  It was shot near where I grew up so it felt really familiar to me, the way the books do.
• The inclusion of mobile phones and laptops were a nice way to make it applicable to teens today

The not so good bits

• I am still not 100% convinced that Cailtin Stasey was the best choice to play Ellie.  She had a real tendency to overact in Neighbours, and she did a little in this movie too.  Having said that, I'm not sure if I could ever be happy with the casting of a character that is so vividly alive in my imagination.  She certainly had big shoes to fill, and I didn't hate her performance.    
• As is always the case when books become movies, some really good bits were left out and some strange bits were put in
• What was with the guns?  They started toting guns before the war even started in this movie!  And they they then suddenly have machine guns, and a rocket launcher even makes a sneaky appearance at the end.  What?!
• I really don't like the way they changed the Herron Bridge scene, although I understand for the most part why they did it.  What I really took objection to was the change it made to Robyn's character.  Not sure how they're going to deal with that in the next movies.
• What was with that last cliff-gazing scene?  I believe we could've done without that.

So, there you have it.  I was actually pleasantly suprised by this movie and I throughly enjoyed watching it, even though it is very much a teen movie.  I really hope this brings a new generation to John Marsden and this brilliant series of books.  It deserves a million times the adoration of the Twilight series, that's for sure!

So go and see it!  Just take your teenage goggles with you :)