An exceptional adaptation of a brilliant book

Rating: 10/10 (9 October 2004)

There are spoilers of both the book and the movie. Read with caution.
Everyone compares how well a movie adapts a book to the screen, and they may rightly complain if the adaptation didn't follow the book. My estimation of this movie is that while they only modestly follow the plot (The Message, The Machine, The Galaxy) and highlight only the key story points, the screenwriter and director actually captured the 'essence' of the book. So much that I'm certain that if Carl Sagan had been alive for the final edit, the 'For Carl' at the end of the film would have been welcomed by the author.
The book is 431 pages of small font, extremely deep material. Yet Robert Zemeckis, Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, James V. Hart, and Michael Goldenberg constructed a movie that tells a similar story that can be understood by all that spend the time to understand it.
Regarding the book and movie differences. Did they change the number of people to travel in the machine? Yes. Did they change the political climate? Yes. Did they slightly demonize and trivialize Drummond, while making Ellie appear a little more sympathetic? Yes. Was Palmer Joss' role increased? Yes. Was the full journey described? No, but close.
So what. My only real complaint is the 'pi' storyline omission, but they covered their bases with the final scene between Angela Bassett and James Woods (great character performances, by the way).
I almost never see an adaptation of a book that lives up to the brilliance of the source material, but this one does. The effects supplement the story well, as opposed to dominating the screen.
Robert Zemeckis has made two of my top ten movies, the other being Forrest Gump. Should I ever meet him, my only word would be...
Thanks.