Movie Review: Turtles All the Way Down book to movie series

Turtles All the Way Down, the movie has been released on MAX. This movie matches the anxiety and complex relationships that were in the book. I recommend reading the book and then thoroughly enjoying the movie.

Movie Review

Released May 2, 2024 on MAX

Aza has OCD and anxiety that leads her down thought spirals. Author John Green has demonstrated how these intrusive thoughts can make life difficult. If you have a loved one with anxiety, this book and movie will help you to understand them better.

Movie Trailer

From Book to Movie Reviews are book reviews and recommendations that do not contain recipes, but are books with movies that I highly recommend.

Turtles All the Way Down

by John Green

a From Book to Movie

Movie Review

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Movie Review Separate from the Novel:

If you haven’t read the book, you are still going to love this movie. Director Hannah Marks did a wonderful job incorporating the internal thought of Aza as her thoughts spiral down about infections and bacteria. The visuals give someone who is not full of anxiety the chance to see what can happen inside the mind of anxious and OCD people.

The pace is steady and moves along keeping the attention. Even sitting on my couch watching it on MAX I wasn’t tempted to pick up my phone.

Grab your friends and family, even if they haven’t read the book and go stream it together!

Movie Review as it Relates to the Novel:

No movie follows a book exactly. Sometimes a movie leaves out critical parts and sometimes it adds elements that the reader may not like. I found that for the most parts, neither of these was the case. The trip to Northwestern University was a welcome and delightful addition to the story. Poor little Noah’s part was seriously reduced. The book is an excellent representation of the novel and I loved the movie.

Casting/Best Performance:

Isabela Merced, Aza, clearly gave the best performance of the movie. She was believable and the audience could see the over thinking and the anxiety on her face. Her interpretation of Aza matched the Aza in the novel. Great casting for her appearance too. She was a believable high school student.

The Best Quote:

The best quote comes from Davis’ blog. “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another,” William James, American philosopher and psychologist.

The author: John Green

John Green is the best selling author of Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, and many more wonderful books. If I started listing all his accolades, this blog post would be way too long. He has not just had a successful writing career, but he is also well known for his YouTube videos. His channel, Crash Course, claims he covers topics such as chemistry, literature, world history, biology, philosophy, theater, ecology, and more. His videos are short enough to keep your attention and detailed enough to help you learn something new.

He has an active social media presence. You can follow him on Twitter @johngreen and Instagram @johngreenwritesbooks or visit him online at johngreenbooks.com.

What is not to like?:

Both my mom and I read Where the Crawdads Sing and then we went to see the movie together in a theater. There is a scene with a reveal where many people audibly gasped. That’s when I leaned over and said to my mom, “Those are the people who didn’t read the book.” There is a scene in this movie too where if you haven’t read the book, there is a shocking surprise. It is times like this when I miss seeing movies in theaters with other people around. On the other hand, there is an amazing amount of convenience to watch a top quality movie on your own couch. I paused and rewound and was even able to put closed captioning on if needed.

Spoiler Alert:

If you haven’t seen the movie, DO NOT read this next part!

Let me tell you why the ending made me just a little bit sad. I absolutely loved the book and mostly because of the ending. In the end, the reader learns that the story is actually a retelling of Aza’s experiences. Aza is retelling her story as an adult. The final bit of resolution lets the reader learn that there is hope, triumph, struggle and triumph again in her future. I absolutely loved this addition to the story. In the movie, Daisy foretells what could be in Aza’s future. It is the same set of events, but since it is told through Daisy, these events are the things that might be yet and not events that Aza has lived through. Do you see that subtle difference? Perhaps it is just that I desperately want Aza to move beyond her current existence and in the book the reader learns that she does indeed.

The stats:

Turtles All the Way Down

by John Green

Rating of the Book: 4.5/5
Rating of the Movie: 4.5/5
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Where to see the movie: Amazon
Release Date: May 2, 2024
Genres: Drama Romance
Setting: Indianapolis, IN
Information Sources: Amazon, Goodreads, IMDB, and Author’s website

Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).