Movie review: ‘Odd Thomas’

I love Dean Koontz books, and his Odd Thomas series is a huge favorite. So, when I first learned about a movie adaptation of Odd Thomas, several years ago, I had mixed emotions. We’re so often disappointed by big screen adaptations, why get my hopes up, only to be let down? Now that Odd Thomas is out in some theaters and available on demand elsewhere, I figured it was time to delve in and see if the filmmakers pulled it off.

In short: They did, and they didn’t. The Odd Thomas movie is definitely not the worst Koontz film adaptation I’ve seen (no, that honor goes to…well…all the others). It’s better than some of the other book-to-film movies I’ve seen this past year (Mortal Instruments, Beautiful Creatures), in fact. For fans, just go in expecting a so-so film and you won’t be overly disappointed. The special effects are decent. Everything else needs a bit of work.

The best part of the Odd Thomas movie is actually the casting. I really like Anton Yelchin as Odd, a short-order cook of Pico Mundo who also happens to see dead people and solve murders. Odd Thomas is one of my favorite book characters ever, and while Yelchin does everything he can (he's definitely charming), Odd just doesn’t come to life on screen in quite the same way.

The Odd Thomas movie stays, for the most part, pretty faithful to Dean Koontz’ first Odd Thomas book. Odd knows bad things are ahead for Pico Mundo, and he sets out to try and stop the evil (with help from the spirit world). Odd is joined in his quest by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn (played by Addison Timlin). Here’s where I had my first real big problem with the film adaptation: I didn’t buy the chemistry between Odd and Stormy. For those of you who have read the Odd Thomas books, you know that is such an essential element of the story, that if it’s missing? Nothing else works.

Aside from the chemistry issue, I also didn’t think that the quirkiness and humor of the Odd Thomas books came off well in the film. Glimpses of humor are there – but as a longtime fan of the books, I wanted more. I suspect that given the uphill battle involved in bringing this film to theaters, we won’t soon see an Odd Thomas movie sequel. And that’s sad. It’s another huge missed opportunity to get things right.

I’d love to hear what some fellow Odd Thomas fans felt about the film version – so if you’ve seen it, please feel free to sound off in the comments.

Photo courtesy of Collider.com