Movie Review: My Sister's Keeper

As I've mentioned before, I am a big fan of Jodi Picoult's books. So far I have read My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, The Pact and Handle with Care and I plan to read them all eventually I just like to space them out a bit. With that said, I was very curious to see how one of her amazingly well written and emotional books would translate to the big screen and finally I was able to rent My Sister's Keeper and witness it for myself.

If you haven't read the book here' s what you should know:

• Jodi Picoult changes narrators in every chapter. Almost every character gets a chance to speak and you really start to feel connected to all of them for all sorts of different reasons.

• The story revolves around Anna, who was born for the sole purpose of helping her cancer stricken sister, and how she decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body and no longer wants to undergo surgeries to help her dying sister.

Now how do these key factors translate into the movie? Well there is some attempt at having every character narrate some part of the story but I just don't think it really helped me attach to them in any way. And as for Anna's story? It's not nearly as big of a factor in the overall movie as you would have imagined. I believe there is maybe one or two courtroom scenes and that's it. Her case doesn't become nearly as important and pivotal as the rest of the family's dilemmas and issues and Kate's, her sister, declining health.

So what did I think of the movie overall? I'm still torn. I in no way loved it like I did the book and I still didn't buy Cameron Diaz as a mother of three teenage children. However, I did LOVE Sofia Vassilieva's performance as Kate. She was absolutely amazing, by far the most well portrayed character on the screen. You could not only feel her angst and depression about her health but you also could feel her happiness on the good days and I loved it.

Nonetheless, I absolutely detested the ending. I won't give anything away but it is the complete (and I mean COMPLETE) opposite of the way the book ended which I thought was incredibly appropriate and an appreciated turn of events. I remember reading that even Jodi wasn't pleased with the ending and I don't disagree with her one bit, it's just sad Hollywood couldn't keep to it.

Now I wonder if any more of her books will be penned for the big screen or if they're just better left for our imagination.