Rating: - Skip the movie - read the book!
My Side of the Mountain is a wonderful book. It explores a boy's adventures in living off the land on his grandfather's old farmland in the Catskill Mountains. He befriends several forest critters and raises and trains a peregrine falcon while learning how to survive in nature.
That said, I looked forward to seeing the movie. Unfortunately, the movie has no relationship to the book except for the name of the boy (Sam Gribley)and the name of the falcon (Frightful). The location was moved to Quebec (no mention of grandpa's farm so Sam is clearly trespassing now), a pet raccoon named Gus was ... Read More
Rating: - The names are the same. That's about all.
What a bummer of a movie! Why did the writers of the screen play see the need rewrite (and poorly at that) what was already a wonderful, wonderful story? Sam's Dad is a mere flash in the pan. Bando spends too much time singing songs that, to my recollection, were no part of the book. And what's up with Sam taking a microscope into the wilderness so that he can "conduct algae experiments"? Killing off Frightful was an unforgiveable departure from the "real" story. If ever a movie needed to be remade, and properly, this is the one! One good thing ... I was pleased to see my son, who has trouble ... Read More
Rating: - Relieve those wilderness fantasies
A well done movie yet doesn't follow the book well.
Some parts of the movie that aren't in the book shouldn't have been in the movie either....better yet, read the two sequels to the book.
Rating: - Teacher Review
As with all books made movie, I give a little space for differences. However, this movie takes away from the book's central themes and creates a totally different story. My students (Resource - Junior High) were extremely disappointed that the characters were changed so much. My own kids (boys 9 & 7) watched half of the movie and lost interest, never asking to finish. I was disappointed also.
Rating: - I bought this for my 23 year old son for Christmas......
along with the book. He used to watch the movie many times over when he was a kid, but had never read the book. He said he really enjoyed the book, which he read before watching the movie this time. And then the movie was a little bit of a let down. However, he had watched the movie so many times when he was a little boy, and he has so many good memories of it, I would recommend it to anyone with younger children. It's a great story.
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