Column: Confusing changes in "The Mortal Instruments"

My reaction to recent book-turned-movie “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” can best be summed up by a comment from IU sophomore Hannah Wilson halfway through the film.

“What is that?” Wilson said, as a demon resembling some sort of strange dog/octopus hybrid attacked the film’s protagonists. “A ‘dog-to-pus’? I have no idea what is going on in this movie.”

Confusion seemed to be the only prevailing theme of “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,” which is an adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s same-titled fantasy novel.

As a self-confirmed book snob, I’ve always liked original novels better than their film adaptations. But, in the interest of my column, I tried to go into “City of Bones” with an open mind. I hoped that because I had already read and enjoyed Clare’s novel, I would be able to better compare and contrast the book and film versions for our readers.

But when the end credits rolled, I walked out of the theater just as bewildered as the rest of the audience.

The original novel introduces artistic Brooklyn heroine Clary Fray. When her mother mysteriously disappears, Clary is swept into the strange new world of the Shadowhunters, a secret society of half-human, half-angels who fight demons bent on destroying humanity.

None of these demons, by the way, are ever described as resembling a dog/octopus combination.

Cassandra Clare’s book is a fast-paced, suspenseful read that I would recommend to any fantasy/science fiction fan.

The film adaptation, however, altered the novel in more serious ways than simply adding a dog-to-pus. For example, the main antagonist, Valentine, is not portrayed as a persuasive, magnetic Shadowhunter leader like he appears in the book.

Instead, he is a raving barbarian with Attila the Hun braids and crazy eyes. Audience members will have a hard time imagining anyone following the obviously insane Valentine’s schemes.

The central love triangle is also altered in the movie. Clary and her best friend, Simon, are strictly platonic by the end of the film, whereas in the novel, Clary still wavers in her choice between Simon and Shadowhunter Jace.

The biggest change in the movie has to do with the final resolution of the Shadowhunters’ battle for the Mortal Cup.

I won’t completely spoil the ending, but I will warn audience members that the victors of said battle differ between the film and the book.

All the alterations in the film version of “City of Bones” result in a choppy, confusing movie, even for viewers who have read the novel and are, therefore, familiar with the plotline.

I left the theater with a pounding headache and the sad sense that Hollywood had destroyed another great book.

Dog-to-pus aside, I say skip this movie. Be a book snob like me and curl up with the original novel instead.

­— jenfagan@indiana.edu

Follow book columnist Jenna Fagan on Twitter @jenna_faganIDS.