Reviews

I'm not a fan of Fry, but I like this series. I'm not American or English. I think some American's have taken this too seriously, judging by the reviews here.

After watching Long Way Round, Long Way Down, By Any Means, The Man Who Cycled the America, and just about every other travel TV series I had run out of options. I was put off by some of the review here, but took the dive anyway.

Yes, there is some focus on poor towns, socio-economic issues, brothels and so on, but it's quite tongue-in-cheek. I can't imagine how some here have taken this series as a stab at American culture. It shows some bad stuff, in a funny way, and no one should think that Fry is seriously trying to portray all of the USA as a brothel. Again, I'm not American of English, and can see this for what it is... a glimpse of the USA with a sense of humor.

What's more, there are delightful positive highlights, especially in the sections showing Montana and other natural beauties. In fact, having been to a couple of the places myself (deep south, rocky mountains, etc) I found those sections I was familiar with to be close to my feelings of the places. Also I've lived in San Francisco, and while he only hits the tourist spots, his views of the place are interesting and reliable. And lets face it, Miami really is an uninspiring place! Should we be offended when he says it?

With that in mind, when Fry takes us to places I haven't seen before, I have fuller confidence in his view. Again, you can't take it too seriously, but really, there is some amazing nature shown here, and he gets into peoples lives, talks to some regular, and some irregular people, going beyond the standard travel documentary.

I'm not one of those people who things movies have to be true to books. However, the makes have taken a hilarious, culturally educational and captivating adventure of wilderness and friendship and ruined it.

One has the feeling the writers tried to make this suitable for all audiences. While the book itself has lots of genuinely funny moments and there was no need to insert/modify, unfortunately in the lamest possible ways.

For example, take the encounter with the 'dangerous animals'.... the movie version is ridiculous, expect perhaps for 4 years olds. In the book, Katz rolls over and falls asleep during the encounter, much more 'kats' and funny than the stupidity in the movie. This is just one of continuous examples throughout the movie. It's probably hard to capture from my example just how bad the exchange is, but really, it's that bad.

And the bet moments of the story are missing. For example, in the book there is a not section where the boys get separated. However, in the 'scary moment' is replaced by them falling off the trail and being stranded. What is ludicrous about this scene is that area they have fallen to is obviously trivial to get back to the trail from, yet they movie tries to sell a moment of the boys being in trouble, stranded... yards from the trail.

Another example is the river crossing moment. Another ruined moment.

The friendship between the boys is capture 'okay. Perhaps the biggest thing lacking from the movie is the cultural education. A Walk in The Woods is a hilarious education about people (hikers and those in the towns the trail passes through) and this is where Bryson excels. The movies captures none of this.

Yes, I will watch it again, because I love the boys and the scenery and the premise of the plot. Yet, this could have been a 9/10 adventure... it's barely 5/10.