'The Great Gatsby' worth the hassle Lurhman?

SPOILER ALERT

The Great Gatsby

After having read the beautiful novel by Fitzgerald I couldn't wait for Gatsby to come out in cinemas. My anticipation of the film had boiled up for such a long time. I was deflated. Sat in the cinema at the end of the screening, I felt like all that excitement was a little bit wasted. Of course the film had it's good points but I expected so much more from Lurhman.

I guess you must think I'm oh so boring to be ranting on like this about a film that all-in-all was brilliant but after falling in love with the book, I just couldn't relate to the film quite as much or in the same way. I found all the actors to be extremely skilful in their roles and couldn't believe how great they were all apart from Mr Gatsby himself, played by DiCaprio.  I'm not quite sure why but in the book I always felt sympathy for Gatsby and liked his character throughout but in the film DiCaprio annoyed me into thinking Gatsby was horrible and my concept of Gatsby changed; maybe this is the reason for why I didn't like the film or the character portrayed by DiCaprio. Furthermore certain parts of the film seemed to look fake. The beginning was amazing with the 'old-style' effect but other parts of the film like when Daisy first visits Gatsby's house didn't look quite right. I don't know why this was (so if you know please tell me) but it ruined the film a bit. If you go to see a film like Spider Man or Man Of Steel you expect visuals that seem unrealistic because they aren't things we expect to be possible however Daisy visiting Gatsby's house should have looked real because it is something real.

On a lighter note there was many aspects and parts of the film that I loved and I would definitely buy the film when it comes out on DVD. For example, Lurhman making a surprise appearance as a waiter. I love it when a director appears in their own film. Also how great was Tobey Maguire? Never thought he wasn't great from Seabiscuit to Spiderman but in Gatsby he was just amazing. 

Furthermore I had to buy the soundtrack, didn't you? The party scenes were brilliant but my favourite had to be the scene with Tobey Maguire and Isla Fisher in the room that Daisy's husband had bought to house his love affair (sorry if I have made a few inaccurate references). The sax in the music makes it and I cannot stop listening to it.

That's all I have to say for now, if you have anything to add please feel free to. I would love to know what your views on the film/book were! Rosie Bowen