Books on screen

I Am Number Four

For the most part, the events of this movie mirror the book fairly well. We see much of the same progression of hiding to confrontation. The big difference comes with characters. While their names and relationships are largely the same, their essential beings are different. John and Henri don't have the friend/father relationship we see in the book. There's more rebellion, more antagonism. John's classmates are vastly different in character than we see in the book. Not worse, necessarily, just different.

The big question is, which version is better? To be honest, neither version is amazing. The book gives us more context for the conflict between the Loriens and the Mogadorians, more detail of Lorien culture and hints about future events. The movie, on the other hand, moves a few events around and actually provides a more logical structure for events. Both have their merits.