Confessions of Georgia Nicolson By Louise Rennison - BOOK OR MOVIE?

Time for me to determine once and for all which is better, the books or the movie for the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison.

The books were very cute and entertaining, they really made you feel like you were going through the journey of growing up with Georgia. I laughed, I actually cried (when her cat, Angus, was hit by a car) and each book made me crave more.

The movie on the other hand was true to the books until about halfway through when it almost seemed like it was completely rewritten for screen. I think the movie was banking on the fact that fans of the Georgia Nicolson series of books would want to see the movie, but I feel like they disappointed its' true fans by straying so much from the plot. There were too many books in the series to be able to cram the whole story of Georgia Nicolson into one movie. Maybe that's where the makers of this movie went wrong.

My ratings for the books vs. the movie are as follows:

THE BOOKS: 8/10

THE MOVIE: 6/10

The Winner:

THE BOOKS

Teen Tuesdays - Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging THE MOVIE (2008) (Directed by Gurinder Chadha)

I've just finished watching the movie Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. It is based on the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson teen novel series. Being a teen movie, I did not have very high expectations for this film. I found the books to be entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny at times, but the online ratings for this film were not very high.

The movie gets off to a great start, with Georgia walking down the street in her stuffed olive costume while her dad trails her in his car. When she gets to the party she is going to, she is disappointed to see her "ace gang" (friends) did not go with their theme of hors d'oeuvres, and are instead wearing typical "cute/sexy" costumes girls usually wear to costume parties (an angel, devil, and princess).  She is laughed at by the party-goers, and is told by her best friend basically that boys don't like funny girls. This is your first taste of Georgia, and immediately, the viewer can see how different Georgia really is.

Over the next couple of scenes, you're introduced to the rest of the characters, and how they translate on-screen. I think the casting was marvelous in this film. The actors weren't actors I was familiar with, which made it a lot easier to picture them as the characters in the book. The actors really did portray the characters exactly as they were in the novels, and being a fan of the books, this made me pretty happy.

The movie was full of colour, and snappy (mostly British) pop songs that really fit the mood. It was your typical teen movie with plenty of drama and gushing over the opposite sex. As much as I would like to say I hated it, I was captivated and it did make me smile. ...At least for the first half.

The first half of the the movie did not stray too far from what happened in the books. I believe the story line took us through the first book with a few elements from the second book wedged in to keep the plot going. The conversations between the characters often mimicked the conversations read in the book, they used the same slang, and they even said some things in French as Georgia and the ace gang often did in the written series. The Disco Inferno dancing, kissing lessons, and name of the band, The Stiff Dylans, held true to the novels, and I really appreciate that when watching a film based on a book.

Other than the "Sex Gods" being twins (they are just brothers in the book), the boys going to the same school (Georgia goes to an all-girls' school in the book), and the "Sex God" having a cat (no mention of this in the book), the beginning of the movie held pretty true to the book.

HOWEVER...

Then you reach the second half of the movie where everything goes awry. I don't know if it's just me, but nothing was as I remembered it in the books. The second half of the film seems to be more about Georgia trying to keep her parents from divorcing than anything else. She even goes to the extent of talking to her dad's boss to try to get him to transfer her dad back from New Zealand and agreeing to move there in order to keep her parents from splitting up.

The movie suddenly goes into true "teen-movie" mode when all of a sudden this modest-looking family has the big bucks to throw Georgia a "Hollywood" style birthday party at a club. Out of nowhere, the unpopular and awkward Georgia has the whole school at her party while the pretty and popular Lindsay sits alone. Lindsay, obviously being portrayed as the villain, then tries to ruin Georgia's party by putting Georgia down in front of everyone on stage. Of course we had to have a happy ending though, so Robbie (The Sex God) rejects Lindsay and goes in for a big, public, kiss with Georgia.

This film had potential to be quite a good comparison with the books, but I think it failed miserably towards the end. Great if you're just looking for a teen movie to entertain you, awful if you're looking for it to follow the story-line in the books. I hope they aren't planning on a sequel, because I think it would just sorely disappoint anyone who became a fan of the written series.

Teen Tuesdays - Confessions of Georgia Nicolson By Louise Rennison - THE BOOKS

A couple of months ago, I was looking through some stacks of books I had bought a few years ago, and just never had time to read. I found the novels Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, and, Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison. I had bought them some time ago, so I didn't really remember even picking them out. But, a book's a book, and I must have been interested in them at some point so I figured I'd give them a shot.

The first book actually contained two novels, Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging, and On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God. The story is based on the diary of a teenage girl named Georgia Nicolson. She is quite the character. After struggling to read the first couple of chapters, due to not being used to the flow of a book being written in diary format, I found Georgia to be quite charming. I was hooked. This is the type of book that keeps you entertained, and I often found myself chuckling out loud at the craziness of being a teenaged girl.

I quickly finished the first two books, and moved on to the next. The next book also contained two novels, Knocked Out by my Nunga-Nungas, and Dancing in my Nuddy Pants. Judging by the titles, Rennison did not want her books read by adults in public. I  was under the impression that the series only contained four books, but I was definitely mistaken. Soon, it became a quest to find all of the titles at my local book store since the books are not yet offered on Kindle.

The other books in the series are titled as follows:

Away Laughing on a Fast Camel

Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers

Startled By His Furry Shorts

Love Is a Many Trousered Thing

Stop In The Name Of Pants

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?

The above are the North American Titles, or as Georgia would say "the Hamburger-A-Go-Go titles".

The books have to be read in order, as the story ends abruptly at the end of each book and continues into the next novel.

The basic plot line showcases how Georgia deals with the day to day life of being a teenager. She is a bit of a rebel, and has a terrific sense of humour that is under-appreciated. She lives in England, and her life revolves around her friends, her cat, and boys. She discovers the joys and let-downs of being in a relationship, and gets herself into situations that don't at all seem possible.

Once you get past the challenge of reading a book that is written in diary form, the books are delightfully full of surprises and make you want to continue reading to see what other kinds of trouble Georgia can get herself into. 

One nice thing that Rennison included in the novels is a glossary of terms at the end of each book. Georgia and her "ace gang" (friends) speak using a lot of British slang, and I admit to looking a couple of terms up in the back of the book that I did not know before. 

Overall, I can see how a teenage girl, or even an adult, would enjoy this series. Rennison's writing, while crude, is hilarious and deserves to be noticed. Reader be warned, if I were picking this book up for a child, I would probably make sure that they were in their upper teens, as I found these books to be a bit suggestive. But all in all, a light read, great for an adult looking to relive their teenage years.