Dean Koontz is definitely one of my favorite writers, and Odd is such an endearing character. There are actually several books and at least one more on the way, but today we're going to talk about the first book, the original, and the movie that was made about it last year.
Odd Thomas is a young man in a small town called Pico Mundo. He's a fry cook at a diner, he has a girlfriend named Stormy, and he can see ghosts. Yes, that's where the adventures start. Odd can see spirits and other entities from beyond. None of these beings can speak, but the ghosts usually find a way to communicate with him, mostly ones who have been murdered. Odd uses his supernatural powers to help bring killers to justice. In the first book, he must use many otherworldly warning signs to stop a mass shooting.
As with all of Koontz's books, Odd Thomas has a strange but enjoyable mix of humor, drama, horror, and fantasy. The cast of characters in Odd Thomas is an amazing menagerie - from his con artist father to his Elvis-enthusiast boss to his overweight novelist mentor and several of the ghosts who shadow him, including Elvis himself!
So, as you can imagine, I was excited to hear that the first novel was going to be made into a movie. However, knowing what has happened to Dean's other novels once Hollywood gets ahold of them also made me a bit skeptical (read Watchers and then watch the fiasco that is the movie adaptation of that wonderful piece). But my mother and I, huge fans that we are, decided to give it a chance.
To be honest, I wasn't entirely disappointed. They took a few liberties with Odd's family history, which effectively cut a very tense scene with his mother later. But most of the finer details, including a flashback to his childhood which explained his fear of one particular supernatural creature, were kept. The script followed the original storyline and dialogue of the book very closely, and so thankfully I didn't spend half the movie turning to Dana to say, "That's not right..."
I won't say I had a problem with the casting because I really didn't. Addison Timlin was a beautiful Stormy, but while I'm a fan of Anton Yelchin, he wasn't quite plain enough to be Odd. Strange as that sounds, read the novel and also see the manga spin-off and you'll understand a little better. |
Next week is another comparison, so be sure to check back. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment here. I've got one more day off this week and could also use some ideas on how to spend the extra time. I'd also love to hear about your holiday weekend activities. Did you travel? See family? I hope to share pics of my mom's visit with you guys soon. Til then, thanks for dropping by and I hope to see you again!