MovieChat Forums > Dreamcatcher (2003) Discussion > What a train wreck.....

What a train wreck.....

posted 13 years ago by dsh1998
11 replies | jump to latest

I read the book, and liked it well enough to want to see the movie....boy what a mistake that was.

I honestly don't know how anyone who hasn't read the book could follow what's going on in this film. Obviously, movies can't capture all the details that can be found in the book, but I still expected things to be laid out in a coherent manner.

Sometime after I saw the movie, I was at a friend's house and they wanted to give the movie a try even though they hadn't read the book. I watched with amusement their utter confusion as to what the hell was going on. The ending in particular where Duddits transforms into a giant monster to kill Mr Gray was met with many exclamations of "WTF?" and much laughter.

[–] kindred090 13 years ago

never read the book, loved the movie. It isn't hard to follow at all.

[–] dsh1998 13 years ago

Sure it isn't....without looking it up elsewhere, please explain the relationship between the aliens from the crashed spaceship and the sh-tweasles Also, who or what is Mr. Gray? Who or what is Duddits? And why the *beep* was the movie called Dreamcatcher?

[–] ThresholdDweller 13 years ago

***HERE THERE BE SPOYLERS***

I saw the movie before I read the book (at the time, it had been years since I'd read a King novel) and had no trouble following the plot whatsoever. I read the book a few years later and was reminded of how much detail has to be sacrificed when making a movie from a novel -- it simply has to be. They're two completely different mediums and you could never possibly fit everything in a 600-page book into a 120-minute movie.

Off the top of my head I can answer the questions you asked of the other poster: when watching the movie I simply assumed the relationship between the crashed aliens and the sh**weasels was one of a mutually-beneficial relationship. The smaller sh**weasels did the "dirty" work and the greys operated "over" them.

In the movie Duddits is revealed to have been a "good" alien who was placed on earth to save mankind in the event the "bad" aliens ever tried to take over. Mr. Gray is a reference to "greys" which is a well known code-word/description for aliens in modern folklore.

The reference to the title "Dreamcatcher" wasn't gone into in depth in the movie but Henry toasted "To Duddits, our dreamcatcher" which could mean anything to the movie viewer. It's left to interpretation. I just took it to mean (when I was first watching the movie) that he represented something very significant in their lives, a connection to their youth and youthful dreams.

Honestly, the movie isn't difficult to follow at all on its own. But if you're familiar with the book (as I am now) every time you watch the movie you "see" where they glossed over issues and stories that were much deeper in the book.

[–] snoho 13 years ago

Reading the book doesn't make you more intellectual than somebody that hasn't so shut up.
I've read Carrie, and seen the movie, movies and books shouldn't be compared they are entirely different, and these days big feature films like these have to sell, its not like a book where you get a publisher and so on, books are better than movies but thats just a matter of opinion, just stop trash talking movies just for the fact they weren't a double of what you have already read. But everyone is entitled to an opinion and I just gave mine.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] snoho 13 years ago

Must've hit a nerve. lol.

[–] yuoke 13 years ago

He never said reading the book makes them smarter.

[–] MJB784 12 years ago

Why did the guy in the bathroom say he wasn't bleeding if he just bled everywhere? Why did he die if he sounded normal? What does the scene where the guy gets hit by a car have anything to do with the movie? What's the memory warehouse about? How did Duddits become an alien? How come Duddits is a good alien and all the other ones are bad aliens? How come Duddits was picked on by two people in the childhood scenes and wasn't able to defend himself even though he has special powers and saves the world at the end of the movie? What did the alien see in Jonesy? What does the dreamcatcher have to do with the movie since it protects people from bad dreams and no one was dreaming in this film?

[–] henricmelin-358-791116 12 years ago

1. It was the worm talking through the guy. Said he wasnt bleeding so he would be left alone so that he could "be born" without being interupted. But as we saw, jonsey and beaver busted in anyway!

2. Se number 1.

3. It changed Jonsey, as Henry said close to the end of the movie, so that he could stay alive when mr.Gray took controll!

4. It's about memories.. where ppl store there memories. mr.Gray is looking through Jonseys memory in search for info about Duddits..

5. To make sure that he would create a bond with the kids that saved him. He could probably saved himself, but he needed the bond with these four, so that he could shape them to save the world.

6. Im with you on this one.. really.

7. the four friends makes a toast for Duddits, and they call him their dreamcatcher, each of them also made a dreamcatcher that they attatched to eachother, and that symbolised their friendship. And that got to be the name of the film, becouse Duddits has a very important role to the film.

PS.
I never read the book, and have no problem following this.
Yes, a few things could use some explanations, but it's not neccesarey.

[–] TyrantII 12 years ago

While I didn't have trouble following it. He's right it's a cinematic mess, due to poor directing and worse editing.

Which is sad, because the cast was there, and their deliver was fine.

[–] Glaivester 12 years ago

I've read the book and seen the movie. Both are rather train wreckish, in my opinion.