Ethan Wate cannot wait (no pun intended) to leave the small town he grew up in. Plagued by dreams of a mysterious woman that leaves him without sleep most nights, he spends the twilight hours running through his town or reading books on the banned reading list. When Lena Duchannes, a member of the infamous Ravenwood clan, moves to town and starts classes during his junior year, Ethan is immediately smitten. Of course, true love can never run smoothly, especially in a family of Casters (that's 'Witch' to us mortals).
I worked in a bookstore when the series was first published. Though I read a lot of fantasy and young adult novels, this one seemed to lean a little too much toward the forbidden love story that has become trite in literature. Again, I'm not saying the book is or is not trite. I'm merely explaining why I avoided it. Truthfully, for all I know I may love the series and later regret not reading it sooner should I ever pick it up.
Disclaimer over with, let's move on to the movie.
Having not read the book, I can only speak to the value of the movie as a movie and not as a rendition of a book. That being said, the movie wasn't all that bad. A bit trite, but all forbidden love stories are.
My only main complaint about the movie was believing the story was about a bunch of 15 to 16 year olds. The majority of the stars that were supposed to be in their mid teens looked to be their actual age (which was their twenties). Once I tricked my brain into believing they were college students and not high school students, I could then enjoy the movie as it was.
Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons stole the show, in my opinion, as relatives of young Lena. In fact, all of the adult relatives were more enjoyable to watch than the young lovers, and I really wish more screen time had been granted to them. (This in no way is a reflection to their acting abilities, but when placed on the screen with such power houses as Irons and Thompson, you just can't compete.) Add to that, they also seemed to have taken their characters a bit less serious almost to the point of camp. If the young ones had done the same, the movie would have excelled where it otherwise fell a little flat.
I can't say that I regret watching the movie. It did seem a bit long when the plot was very basic and straightforward. It could have easily lost thirty minutes and we still would have gotten the point.