WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS.
There's been many occasions where I've come out of the cinema feeling disappointed after watching a film adaption of a book I love, because it just didn't do it justice. *Yes, Paper Towns, I'm talking about you.* I've always been very critical of them - probably because I've always been more of a book-over-film kind of girl. So when I went to see A Street Cat Named Bob recently, it's safe to say that I was feeling a little skeptical. Something about it had really appealed to me as soon as I'd seen the trailer (probably all the reviews talking about how ADORABLE Bob is) - and although I normally like to read the book first, this time I opted to start with the film.
I absolutely adore the story, and probably even more so because it's true. You follow James Bowen, a recovering drug addict who busks in Camden for a living, and his relationship with a stray cat called Bob. After he eventually takes him in, he begins to realise that Bob is more than just a cat to him; but a companion who will never leave his side. Literally. He kind of becomes his sidekick - and because of Bob, James becomes determined to get clean.
One of my favourite things about the both the film and book was seeing how quickly Bob and James got attached to eachother. Bob starts to follow James to his spot in Camden every day, just outside the tube station. On a normal days' work, James would be lucky to make £20 - but Bob soon changed that. It's not every day you see a busker with a huge ginger cat sitting on his shoulder. But it didn't always attract the right sort of attention. It was heartbreaking to read the abuse that James had to endure on a daily basis - from gangs shouting unnecessary rude remarks, to business-men telling him to "find himself a proper job", and to Underground workers sometimes threatening violence to warn him away from the station. It's hard to believe that some people have such a hard time when they're just trying to make a living for themselves.
Something I couldn't stop thinking about, however, was just how different the film adaption is to the original story in the book - which is the main thing I dread about film adaptions. I don't quite understand why they decided to change the things that they did. For example, James' neighbour, Belle, is a potential love interest in the film who James randomly meets one day - and she is portrayed to be completely against drugs after seeing her brother killed by them. But, oddly, in the book she is James' ex-girlfriend-now-best-friend and also a recovering drug addict. Although it's not exactly the most ground-breaking change ever, the original version is still something I think they could have stuck with. In my opinion; James didn't need a love interest in the film. The story isn't about that. It's about the love between a cat and his owner.
James' rocky past with his dad is also another main feature of the film, and even though it did suit the film really well, it just didn't exist in the book. In fact, his dad is barely even mentioned once. James writes about his childhood and growing up in Australia, and he goes back to visit his family for some recovery time after coming off the drugs. However, the film showed his dad now living in London with a new wife and family who, at first, completely ignores James' advances to try and repair their father-son relationship. Albeit his dad's new life and his feelings towards James may have been vaguely suggested in the book - it wasn't made as big of a deal as the film interpreted.
The last change I noticed - although quite small, admittedly, is the fact that his male social worker is played by a female in the film. Which is fine. But it's just something that didn't happen. I'm all for girl power and everything, but why make his social worker female if they weren't? It wouldn't have affected the quality of the film in any way if they had just stuck to the book. But I guess it's just a personal thing - if you're not as much of a book nerd as I am then these little things probably won't bug you quite as much.
Overall, A Street Cat Named Bob is one of my favourite stories to come out this year - book-wise as well as film-wise. It will absolutely warm your heart, and I'd recommend a read (and a watch) if you want something to make you smile. Also, I kind of want my own Bob to keep forever.
Katie X