Impressive

Rating: 8/10 (12 September 2014)

The Great Gatsby is a book that I have re-read numerous times, and as a fan of the novel I was wary that the film adaptation would take away from the book, or fail to do the book justice. This made the modernization of The Great Gatsby for the screenplay initially unnerving, but the film itself is outstanding when you compare it to F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel; none of the changes made were enough to detract from Fitzgerald's creation, and the movie remains satisfying to both fans of the novel and those who have never read the book.
Staying true to the plot of a novel when making a film is incredibly difficult to do, as a dramatic compression of the plot is often required in order to fit the time constraints of the film. In "The Great Gatsby", nothing important was cut, and all of the major scenes from the book were nearly identical to the way that they unfolded in the book. The film did not lack any message, or even important dialogue, that was in the book, and the changes made to the plot were merely more succinct summations of what F. Scott Fitzgerald presented due to the time constraints. For example: the movie starts with the first lines of the novel, and also ends with the last lines of the novel – which are beloved quotes among the readers. Another strong point is that the majority of the character dialogue from the film is directly quoted from the characters' dialogue in the book, which in turn allows us to experience the visual representative of the story as well as keeping the linguistic appeal that Fitzgerald presents in the novel. The most significant change made to the plot was Nick Carraway's narration to a therapist and the documentation of Gatsby's story in his journal, which merely aids the film in staying true to the book, as this allows the first person narrative of the novel to remain present in the movie. Other changes are minuscule and do not detract from the plot in any way, such as the soundtrack by Jay-Z that is inappropriate in regards to the setting of The Great Gatsby. Other artistic liberties that come with making the film were a bit too flashy to be realistic; for example, the scenes from Gatsby's party were obviously designed to be visually appealing, or appealing in a different way than the novel, as opposed to accurate. Such insignificant changes were most likely made to modernize the movie and allow it to appeal to a broader audience, and although it may have the disapproval of the fans of the novel, the artistic liberty taken did not violate Fitzgerald's message or plot in any way.
The casting, however, is something that did affect the overall quality. The character interpretation that the actors and actresses portrayed changed the tone of the movie, and it was a more lighthearted film than it was novel. Leonardo DiCaprio was a passable Jay Gatsby, and while his skill at acting was evident in certain scenes such as the tea date, he was most likely cast as a way to attract a different demographic. DiCaprio was not bad, but fit the role poorly. Carrey Mulligan fit the appearance of Daisy perfectly, but the way she conducted her interactions with other characters made her bolder than her novel counterpart and more likable; Mulligan made Daisy more innocent and easy to sympathize with than the way Fitzgerald wrote her to be. Joel Edgerton was an impeccable Tom Buchanan, and probably had the most accurate depiction of his character. Elizabeth Debicki softened Jordan's character drastically, making Jordan charming instead of the frightening and intimidating character that she was in the book. These changes made by the were tolerable because they were so slight and did not take away anything from the character themselves, but were merely different interpretations; the biggest mistake that was made in the film adaptation, however, was the casting of Toby McGuire as Nick Carraway, as his depiction of the character was far from Fitzgerald's version of him. Whereas the subtle changes made by the other actors and actresses in the film took nothing away from the character themselves, McGuire completely disregarded the detached and observational nature of Nick Carraway, which is the main reason why Carraway is such a successful narrator in the novel. McGuire portrayed Carraway as childish, innocent, and playful, and though his dialogue was extremely similar to his novel counterparts (which is due to the script as opposed to his own decisions regarding his role), what he brought to the role changed the character completely. McGuire's acting was not good enough to make up for these changes either, as the other actors or actresses would have been, making McGuire the weakest one in the cast.
All in all, "The Great Gatsby" film is something that I would recommend to people that enjoyed the book, as almost all of the charm and appeal from the novel is present in the film. It does not do injustice to Fitzgerald's novel and the modernization of certain aspects do not interfere with the plot or the characters at all; if they bother you, they'll simply be rare distractions from what's happening.