The book tells a wonderful story about inner strength and the courage to dream. Keeping the main characters’ names and the central conceit of “Ella must be obedient” is basically where the similarities end. Unfortunately, it’s also a very poor adaptation of the source material. Throw in navigating the pitfalls of high school in a relatable but not overly dramatized way, and you have an excitingly uncommon concept.Įlla Enchanted is a whimsical and very funny movie, well-deserving of being watched and re-watched in its own right. The story of a teenage girl who suddenly finds out she’s the Princess of a small, European principality and has to deal with the consequences of that is already unique. There’s drama, friendship, misunderstandings, and a whole lot of heart that could be shown in a series that hems closer to the books. There’s so much that was missing or misconstrued in the movie that I’d love to see play out on the small screen and nine books worth of plotlines that weren’t even touched. That being said, the movies are a world apart from the book series that ends up spanning 10 books, two adult spin-offs, and several novellas and short stories. Unlike some other entries on this list, I genuinely love the Princess Diaries movies - they’re great fun! Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews are a delight, and they’re great movies to watch on a rainy day. This means the iconic book series has another chance at receiving a proper adaptation … but why stop there? Let’s look at five other books that should receive the Eragon treatment: Like Harry Potter, a movie adaptation soon followed suit and then … well, didn’t go too well.īut the dragon-focused series is getting another shot at the big time, as a new series based on Eragon was announced to be in development for Disney+ earlier this year. Not only that, but they realized that fantasy was a viable genre with much to be explored in a younger context.

They hit right when children and young adult literature realized that Harry Potter was not just an anomaly, but that children could read books longer than Cam Jansen. The same goes for Eragon. When I was younger, I absolutely loved the Eragon books. With remake mania still sweeping through Hollywood, in recent years we’ve been fortunate enough to have some excellent novels push past their disastrous first adaptations and take on new life, like A Series of Unfortunate Events and the upcoming Percy Jackson series on Disney+ that, frankly, can’t be worse than the movie. However, for some books, there is a glimmer of hope. Movies and TV shows that adapt books to the screen don’t always get it right.

Eragon book 5