Ya know, there’s just something about trying to translate a book by Stephen King into a feature film. Sometimes it works beautifully, such as the case with “Shawshank Redemption”, “Misery” and “Stand By Me.” But most of the time, they either run the range from average to just gosh darn awful. The main problem with turning King’s books into films, keeping in mind that I’m a huge fan, is that they are often way too visual in nature for anyone to ever successfully realize onscreen. The main story of “Dreamcatcher” surrounds four childhood friends who reunite each year at a remote cabin. Strange things are afoot in the woods this year, however and trouble is on the way. Each of the friends has a touch of ESP, and end up smack dab in the middle of an alien invasion. It’s quite a convoluted story, but it reads much better than it sounds. I remember when I first read “Dreamcatcher”, and though it was certainly not my favorite of his books, I still enjoyed it.

Even the painful way the alien…s**t weasels made their way into the world. I thought there was no way anyone in their right mind would ever attempt to make one. It had a lot of the elements that make for a good King Novel, with lots of flashbacks to the main protagonists as kids, and the story line was certainly interesting enough. BUT, the story’s length and visual descriptions were certainly beyond Hollywood’s abilities to create. Or so I thought.

When I heard that director Lawrence Kasdan (“The Big Chill”, “Silverado”) was teaming up with writer James Goldman (“The Princess Bride”, “Misery”) to bring “Dreamcatcher” to the silver screen, I was actually a bit excited by the prospect. Both of these heavy hitters had enough winning films between them that it was kind if a sure bet they could pull it off. Then, the rumors started flying. The worst one being that they planned to change the ending, not so much in the where and how, but one of the major characters was being changed in such way as to blow the entire story. I hoped it wasn’t true. More on that later.

As with a lot of movies lately, I missed it in the theatre and opted to wait until the DVD dropped in my lap, which it did a couple of weeks ago. I was extremely hesitant to watch it after a lot of what I had heard, but I was prepared to do so and be as objective as I possibly could. Was I disappointed? I tried not to be, but ultimately I was.

Now, to be fair there are some good things about the film. Most of the performances were actually really good in spite of the film’s overall flaws. Thomas Jane, Damian Lewis, Tim Olyphant and Jason Lee played the four main friends, and each and every one of them did a terrific job of bringing the characters from the book to life. Lewis did an especially fine job conveying the split personality Jonesy experiences when he is taken over by one of the aliens, known as Mr. Gray.

The filmmakers also successfully re-created the ‘memory warehouse’ in Jonesy’s head. It is from here that Jonesy ‘hides’ from the alien that has taken him over. From the ‘warehouse’ he is able to look out through a ‘window’ to witness the havoc Mr. Gray is causing. I say it was successful, but only in the way it was visually represented, unfortunately I don’t think the filmmakers utilized this plot point enough for most people to ‘get’ what was going on.

Then there’s the matter of effects. The main effect any fan of the book was looking for was the representation of the s*** weasels (so-called cause they grow inside of you and exit through the back door, so to speak). These guys looked great. The CGI work was nearly flawless, and most of the time I couldn’t tell it was CGI. I give a lot of credit to the special effects guys for a job well done in this area.

Where the film falls apart is in its narrative flow. There are other King films that do a great job of hopping back and forth in time, “It” is a perfect example. The flow was never forced. In “Dreamcatcher”, it felt choppy and did more to confuse the audience than it did to help them to understand what was going on. Then there was the matter of the actors hired to portray the four friends as kids. I’m sorry, but they were awful. When I look back at the amazing performances by the young actors in “Stand By Me”, or “It”, there’s just no comparison.

As for the ending I talked about, let’s touch on that shall we? Donnie Wahlberg portrays a character named Douglas. He is a childhood friend of the four main characters, and was the catalyst for their odd mental powers. He is retarded, and pronounces his name ‘Duddits’, which is what everyone calls him. His character is a crucial part of the novel, and in the film he is both underused and abused as far as character development. Then to add insult to injury, what they chose to show of his character was completely blown when the filmmakers decided to turn him into something he absolutely wasn’t in the book. (It’s like the changed ending to “Cujo.” The kid died in that book, and it totally ruined the story when he lived in the movie.) I can’t even imagine what Goldman was thinking when he did this. Unfortunately, there is no commentary available on the DVD to answer this (and many other questions).

Where the DVD succeeds is in its extra features. Aside form the lack of much needed commentary, Warner Brothers included some short documentary features that focus on the various effects in the film, some of the production itself, and an interview with Stephen King. Since the effects were one of the better aspects of the film, these are all very interesting in terms of how they did what they did, if not why. We also have 4 deleted scenes and the original ending, which really doesn’t differ that much from the direction they ended up going.

I don’t get into the habit of trashing films (unless they’re really, REALLY bad), and I won’t trash “Dreamcatcher.” There are some individuals who may like the film, as there are certainly worse films out there. I think the people who will have the hardest time with it will be those who are familiar with the book. Like me, you’ll be spending most of your time comparing. And in the end there just is no comparison.

Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Sizemore, Donnie Wahlberg
Extras: The Original Ending & 4 Other Lifted Scenes, 3 Documentaries: “Dreamwriter – An Interview with Stephen King”, ‘Dreamweavers – The Visual Effects of Dreamcatcher”, and “Dreammakers – A Journey Through Production”, Teaser Trailer
Specifications: Widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 9/30/2003
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R (Viole3nce, Gore and Language)
Website

We'll give Dreamcatcher a C-.