MovieChat Forums > The Cheetah Girls (2003) Discussion > Changed everything

Changed everything

posted 18 years ago by IndieSpirit92
23 replies | jump to latest

The reason I have mixed feelings about this movie is because of how unfaithful it was to the books (Which I think are excellent and soooooooo much better than this movie, I can't even tell you.) People judge the girls and the name as a whole because the movie was filled with somewhat corny one liners and things that didn't make sense. To everyone-I recommend you read the books before saying you hate them. They could change your mind.

Just for kicks, I decided to write down all the differences between the two:

1) In the books, there are five girls-Chanel, Dorinda, Galleria, Aqua and Angie.
2) Dorinda was changed from biracial to white.
3) Galleria' mother is supposed to be a plus size former model-the actress chosen for the role was very petite.
4) In the books, Dorinda straight up told everyone she was a foster child-it was no secret.
5) In the books, an ongoing storyline is Chanel's eating disorder (Not included in the movie)
6) The girls were not as old-14 changed to 16.
7) The girls go to seperate schools-Fashion for Dorinda, Chanel and Galleria-Performing arts for Aqua and Angie.
8) Galleria's character had no depth, as did the Galleria from the books.
9) Dorinda has a half sister-Tiffany

I know everything couldn't hae been incorporated, but they could have tried.

*Not a change, but: I don't think the actresses cast in the roles were the right choice. They're too old. I think the girls who modeled for the books should have been cast in the parts (Some of them were already singers, so it wouldn't have been a huge change.)

[–] primadonnaindamaking 18 years ago

Well I have read books 1 to 6 I believe and I haven't gotten to da part with Tiffany but maybe that will be included in the sequel. And Disney may have cut the eating disorder out because its a show for kids and young people stuff like that. But I think it shouldn't be a problem tho.

[–] MarblesLove 9 years ago

If that was their reasoning, that's pretty stupid, IMO. They didn't seem to have a problem bringing up hard/controversial topics in other things, like eating disorders in an episode of Lizzie McGuire, race in That's so Raven and The Color of Friendship, and disabilities/handicaps in Tru Confessions.

This is my signature.

[–] tinkerbell07014 18 years ago

it is actually a series there is up to 16+ i think.

i personally like the books so much more.
i do love the movie though.

i would definetly recommend the books if you are a reader

[–] ScorpioCutie 18 years ago

I haven't read the series in a while but wasn't Dorinda also secretly two years younger than the other girls?

[–] IndieSpirit92 18 years ago

Oh yeah I forgot about that-good one!

[–] Funnychick09 18 years ago

Also, in the book, Aqua has a twin sister.(Angie.) They could have hired twins. Why didn't they get twins? It would've then been more realistic character-wise. Don't get me wrong. I love love LOVED the movie. But they didn't have to screw around and take out one of the characters. When you make a book into the movies, you at least keep all the original characters. I really had to wonder what was wrong with them for doing that.

Psssst!
Did that bird just 'pssst!' us?

[–] xxsingingqueenxx 18 years ago

Remember this is Disney Channel and the movie had to be made differently to attract younger kids.

[–] ronandboys323 18 years ago

Also those may be subjects that come up in the sequel because often they take elements from the book and add it to the 2nd one after the first one is a success!!!

[–] cookymonzta 17 years ago

FunnyChick:

Word has it that they were looking for twins who could sing, but they found none, and decided to dump the least-relevant of the two.

Which I thought was taking the easy way out. If they could change Dorinda's character from biracial to white, they could have changed Aquanette and Anginette from IDENTICAL twins to FRATERNAL twins. They never thought of that, did they? They could have picked anyone to play Aqua's sister, and they wouldn't have had to look exactly alike.

For those of you who don't know, Raven was HAND-PICKED to play Galleria. The others had to audition. Word has it that even Beyonce's sister, Solange, auditioned, and came close to getting the role of Aqua. If they had rewritten the twins as fraternal, she'd have been part of the QUINTET right now!

That is, before Raven quit.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mrjgman 16 years ago

Seems Disney likes changing they're movies based on books. You should see what they did to the Twitches movies in turn of the books.

[–] ATLEyeCandy 18 years ago

They did go to different schools in the book. I read it like a gazillion times. And some of this stuff would have not allowed the movie to have a climax. Dorinda IS biracial.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] IndieSpirit92 18 years ago

Also, the Kats N' Kitties club is never mentioned. The Cheetah Girls 2 has apparently no connection with the books and just does it;s own thing.

[–] xHermioneGrangerx 18 years ago

I haven't read the books (though they sound good, maybe I should read them) but I think in the movie the girls were fourteen.

A note to Harry/Hermione Shippers:
heRmiONe
--Check the capitalized letters.

[–] MiSSViXEN 18 years ago

the girls are indeed 14, they're freshmen.

[–] IndieSpirit92 18 years ago

Whitney Houston said in an interview that they were 16...But she's not exactly reliable lol

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] IndieSpirit92 18 years ago

Myspace.com/18884151

Yup, I've read em all! The last batch of books came out in Sept 2005 in a special bind-up! It's called 'OFF THE HOOK! Books 13-16' and it's really good.

:)

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]