Dear John Movie Review

                To many Sparks’ fans disappointment, tissues were not a requirement when Dear John was released into theaters. The movie did not live up to The Notebook’s wonderful reputation as the tear jerker loved by all. Dear John could lose the attention of anyone viewing it despite the beautiful young actors who performed in the movie.

    After reading the book Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, I decided to watch the movie and compare the two to see which is better. Though Channing Tatum is certainly eye candy in the movie, the book is definitely better. The movie differs from the book in many small unnecessary ways.

    The plot has an interesting twist but that twist is ruined by how much the beginning of the movie is drug out. Once the twist finally occurs, viewers have already directed their attention elsewhere and the wonderful ending of the movie is ignored. The only positive thing about this movie is that the ending is unexpected which makes the movie different and somewhat intriguing.

    The movie is about a young soldier (Channing Tatum) who meets a beautiful college girl (Amanda Seyfried) during spring break. The couple spends a wonderful couple of weeks together before the soldier must go back to where he is stationed. The two write each other back and forth for the remaining time of his commitment, but when they near the time he is supposed to come home 9/11 happens. He commits for two more years after that and within those two years he receives the heartbreaking letter that Savannah has fallen in love with someone else. John continues to commit more and more years to the war until he comes home for his father’s funeral and finally goes to visit Savannah. He finds that she has fallen in love with Tim, a character introduced earlier in the novel as her long time friend. The twist is that Tim is in the hospital and is expected to die at any time; however, instead of taking Savannah back John anonymously donates the money to ensure that Tim gets further treatment to prolong his life.

    John’s act of sacrifice is unexpected and earns my respect of the book even though the movie is a sad representation of it. The book is a must-read while the movie should be saved for a rainy day when there is simply nothing else to do.