Wolf Born

I've been an avid fan of Tom Holt since I was a teenager, and I'm now nearly 40, so that's quite a while! The Portable Door being by far my favourite book to date, I was both excited and nervously sceptical about the film adaptation. Of course I wanted to see my favourite book in full visual glory, but I know full well that film or tv adaptations often ruin jolly good books. So I watched it without particularly high expectations. I was right to have been sceptical as there were a great deal of changes from the book. It was watchable I suppose, but I really had to detach the film from the book and think of it as entirely separate. I have read the book several times and loved it each and every time... the film, however, was a one time watch for me. Nothing particularly awful, but nothing particularly gripping either. It was, how can I put it... alright. Just alright. Nothing more than average really, which I think was, in a way, somewhat inevitable, as part of the appeal of Tom Holt novels is his wit. It's his sarcasm and dry comedic tone that really makes his books great. The author's voice cannot possibly be translated into film format, at least not without some substantial narration, and unfortunately that meant that even if the film had been more accurate to the book, it still would have failed to capture the audience the way that the book (and indeed all of Holt's books) can do. If you want to watch a reasonably lighthearted film with some magic and a gaggle of goblins, with the understanding that it's just "alright but not amazing" then pop the film on. However if you want to experience The Portable Door the way it's supposed to be experienced, then read the book. If you've already seen the film and didn't think much to it, I still urge you to read the book.