The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie review

On Sunday I had the opportunity to watch The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones with a friend and her husband. My friend and I had both read the book while her husband had not. She told him that it was like a mix of Harry Potter and Twilight. What did we think of it?

I wasn't originally planning to see the movie in the theater. While I really enjoyed the first three books in the series I felt let down by City of Fallen Angels and never read City of Lost Souls. After seeing the trailer however, I changed my mind. I was really looking forward to seeing the movie though I figured that it would have flaws and changes from the book. Then came all the negative reviews and suddenly I wasn't so keen to see it anymore but I went anyway.

While there are changes (and it has been a few years since I read the book so I didn't pick up on all of them) I thought the spirit of the book was there and I really liked the portrayals of the characters particularly Clary, Jace, and Simon. I had my doubts about Jamie Campbell Bower but I thought he made an acceptable Jace. Lily Collins was a pretty good Clary too. I wasn't a fan of hers after seeing Mirror Mirror but thought she did a nice job here. I was really surprised by how much I liked Robert Sheehan as Simon. He really made Simon's emotions believable as well as providing some nice comic relief. It was also great to see the talented Lena Headey as Jocelyn. She even had a few action scenes that she didn't get in the book. While I appreciated the creepiness of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, I thought he came across as an over the top cult leader type rather than the intelligent and cunning Valentine of the book.

It was fun to see the world of the Shadowhunters come to life although I was disappointed by the party at Magnus Bane's and the whole vampire story line with Simon. There are definitely changes from the book and I recommend strongly that you wait to read or reread the book till after you've seen the movie if things like that really bug you. 

If you go into the theater expecting a movie that will be different from the book and don't have Hunger Games level expectations for it, then you might enjoy it. My friend and I both really liked it and her husband thought it was better than Twilight and the Harry Potter films. I agree about Twilight but I think that the Harry Potter films are better (even though they also have flaws.) 

I am glad that I chose to go and see the movie even with the bad reviews and I think I will enjoy the sequel if it is made. I have also been inspired to reread the series and give the newer books a chance. It is hard to adapt a book for film and get it right and while City of Bones may not completely succeed, it was still a fun and entertaining film.