13 Book-to-Vlog Adaptions: The Comprehensive Review of Youtube Book Adaptations

Legend:

5 stars- is Lizzie Bennet Diaries
4 stars- Fantastic.
3 stars- Good, has some problems. I wouldn't endorse it, but who am I kidding, I'll still probably follow.
1 star -don't bother.

(No 2 stars. 2 stars is shrugging while saying 1 star.)

C-completed run, I-In progress

The New Adventures of Peter + Wendy (Peter Pan): 4/3 stars, I (but finished two seasons)

Acting and production are awesome. They did some quirky things with the adaption which personally I find awesome, but might be a little polarizing. For instance, Tink is an actual fairy (who you never see) who communicates in bell sounds just like the disney movie. Tink serves as Peter's camera, and the rest of the world just takes her existence in stride. Tiger Lily is still an Indian Princess, but in the form of a Punjabi business exec (I love a good visual pun).

This is very much a case of an adaption of an adaption. John always has an umbrella and Michael usually has a bear backpack, a nice wink to the animated version. (If you have a great love for Mycroft Holmes, than you're going to love John. He's one of my favorite characters.) They reference J. M. Barrie, but this obviously isn't Barrie's Peter Pan, it's Walt's. But with adults.

There's a mild content warning for this one since the way to keep adults from growing up is irresponsibility. So there's some binge drinking, pot, and a few innuendos. But it's on the PG side of all of that--if such a thing exists....

I dunno. I really like this series, but I feel a little weird fully endorsing--so my vague rating is based on your personal threshold for the above.

TL;DR: Great series, but YMMV.

Best acting in the series, Wendy.

Lizzie Bennet Diaries (Pride and Prejudice):  5 stars, C

The Many Faces of Darcy

The grand dame of all Vlog adaptions. LBD, is the the metric by which all other book-to-vlog's are measured. Ironically, I think LBD is pretty weak as an actual adaptation. But as its own story,  it is fantastic and wonderful.

We lose a great deal of the identity of Pride and Prejudice in LBD since there's no Mr. Bennet and no banter over gender politics. But, it's meh-ness as an adaption is made up for by the complete reinvention of Lydia Bennet's storyline. Instead of satirizing the wacko marriage economy of Edwardian England, LBD digs into relational abuse and depression with straight earnestness. LBD's depth is in completely different areas than the original, but that depth is certainly present.

The best actor award for this series definitely goes to Lydia

The Autobiography of Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre):  3 (but should've been 4) stars, C

Parts of this are genius.  If you've ever read the book, "the gypsy scene" is actually handled super well, a distinction I don't think I can give to any film based on the book. Overall, this is probably the truest adaption of its book of all the series on this list. The character arcs are the same. The point of the story is the same.

Unfortunately it has one catastrophic problem and a minor but incredibly distracting flaw. The catastrophe is that the actor playing Rochester backed out of the project before it was finished shooting, which triggered a face-palm of an ending in an otherwise very well-done series. Tragic really.

The flaw is that they over-acknowledge the camera. Just let the audience suspend disbelief---somehow the characters just  forget that the camera is rolling and they don't edit the action out before posting. Instead, AoJE draws attention to the camera every time something awkward or unplanned happens.  So the characters deliberately choose to leave the camera on. This makes the characters look incredibly short-sighted/narcissitic/idiotic depending on the situation, but it never makes them look good.

That said, I hope this producer makes another series. I think they did a brilliant job with the story.

Best Actor goes to Simon, who's neuroscience "sermon" was amazing.

Nothing Much to Do (Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing): 4 stars, C

The acting in this is fantastic.  And if Much Ado About Nothing happens to be your favorite play by the Bard and you have large swatches of the dialogue memorized, you'll appreciate that they somehow manage to weave in word for word snippets of the original text without getting weird.

I think they use the vlog format to great advantage, creating different channels to switch perspectives, and ...just go watch it.

***UPDATE***

So Nothing Much to Do was a lovely endeavor that I'm still glad to have watched, but was ultimately disappointed with. There's a tricky line to be followed in any adaptation, between the soul of the original and the vision of the new writer. Somewhere in the midpoint of this series, the balance collapsed. I became too invested in Hero and suddenly the famous banter between Beatrice and Benedict no longer made up for Hero's tragedy. And this created a multitude of problems. I was dissatisfied with the ending because it felt unresolved.  Hero had become my protagonist, but nothing had changed in her outlook or circumstances.

And then I was confused about how I felt about Beatrice and Ben. Did I want them together? I mean they're adorable side characters, but what does that mean for Hero? It's strange how just a few plot changes made the axis of this story shift so dramatically.

Some language including a few f-bombs.

Best actor award goes to Benedick. Who somehow walks the line between charming and obnoxious in the most perfect way possible for the character.

Nick Carraway Chronicles (The Great Gatsby): 1 star, C

Meh acting.

Emma, Approved (Jane Austen's Emma): 3 stars, C

Emma Woodhouse is like my Jane Austen avatar, so I'm personally affronted by this adaptation. (But I watched every episode).

Book  Emma is a know-it-all meddler because she has a good heart and just doesn't know how to help her friends. She's likeable despite her flaws. Vlog Emma is a manipulator who uses her relationships to control people. Vlog Emma's redeeming qualities include things like she's not as shallow as Mrs. Elton. It's a bit of an informed ability that lets her have friends like Annie and Alex.

Also replacing a marriage proposal with being asked on a date really waters down the drama.

Emma looks like a major over-reactor when she responds to "Let's go on a date, I think we'd be good together" with "Gross. I was just trying to set you up with my friend."  Something's definitely lost in translation to the 21st century. I appreciate trying to keep the content family friendly (so not going the sex route as with Clueless), but I feel like something else would've worked better. Like Elton trying to get Emma to join his campaign team and leave her business. Something with higher stakes.

Best actor award goes to Maddie Bates and maybe Martin, IT Guy.... for the cranes.

Jules and Monty (Romeo and Juliet): 1.5 stars, C

So all I know about Greek Life comes from movies, which I can only hope are inaccurate. But the plot of this vlog hinges on stereotypical tropes of cultish frat loyalty, alcohol poisoning, and casual sex, so... there's that.

There are prolific  swatches of the original dialogue throughout...including the Queen Mab monologue of all things. I don't know how I feel about this. Sometimes it's cool. But since it's really inconsistent when they use the actual Shakespeare and when they don't, it is often jarring.

Overall the production values and the acting are excellent. Unfortunately, the content is just generally cringeworthy, I found it difficult to watch the same number of episodes I've been giving the others. If they had scaled back on the F-bombs and objectifying terms this could easily have earned 4 stars. This isn't Schindler's List though, so the virtues of the story just don't justify its vices.

 At least to me. My prudish two cents. *very strong language, some violence*

Best acting, Jules

Kate the Cursed (Taming of the Shrew): 1 star, I

The script writing is actually very good, but it's in great want of an editor. Major pacing issues.

It's probably more accurate to call this an adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You, since Shrew itself is essentially unsalvageable in its original form.

Sorry Shakespeare, it's the truth.

Green Gables Fables (Anne of Green Gables):  3 stars, I

It does a really good job  of capturing the personality of Anne Shirley. I find Anne a little annoying, but I find the character in the book annoying as well. So it could just be a personal preference. Also, making Anne 17 instead of 11 creates some weirdness, but you learn to roll with it.

Although neither Amanda or I are big fans of this series, I still think it's worth giving a shot. It could very well be someone else's cup of tea, even if it isn't ours. Skip to episode 3 or 4 for a trial run.

Welcome to Sanditon (Jane Austen's Sanditon): 3 stars, C

I had a hard time getting into this one. I thought the "beta-testing" premise was interesting, but ultimately I stopped following this one around episode 11. There just wasn't enough plot to keep me
invested. Going back for this review though, I have to say the ending is pretty cute.

Best acting, Clara

Classic Alice (Crime and Punishment...I know, right?) -- 4 stars, C

It's only 8 episodes long, so it's easy to recommend this one. Excellent acting, great pacing. It's sort of a meta-adaptation. Major props for picking Dostoyevsky, and I can only hope this comes back for a "season 2."

Best acting, Andrew.

A Tell Tale Vlog/ Socially Awkward Edgar Allen Poe (The Raven... very loosely): 3? stars, C

I'm not in love with this as an entire series. But there's 2 really stand-out episodes  which are hilarious. "Times were different then, don't judge."

The other episodes have some strong language. You've been warned.

Best actor, Poe.

(Pssst, you should also go watch Kissing in the Rain by the same company. Not an adaptation, just adorable and clever.)

The March Family Letters (Little Women): n/a

I have serious doubts about this series' ability to finish its run. That being said, if they get some momentum going, I could see this being really fun and entertaining. It could even change my mind about Little Women.

**Update**
This series was adopted by Pemberley Digital (the producers behind LBD and Emma).  I haven't watched it since they re-launched, but I have complete trust that Pemberley Digital will take it to conclusion.

We can only hope they change the ending.

Good luck to your self-control,

Stephanie

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P.P.S. Did I miss a series you love? Do you radically disagree? Comment below!