You can now go to the Paper Towns (and come back) in cinemas across the United States, and thanks to some changes you’ll be watching an improved version of this story.
These changes wouldn’t have necessarily worked in the Paper Towns book by John Green, but on screen they ensured that the story made the smoothest transition possible. They even improved it in places — at least for the medium of film. Watch the film, check out our list of changes and let us know if you agree. If you haven’t seen it yet, beware of Paper Towns movie spoilers.
Singing the Pokémon song together
This was a fun added scene that perfectly encapsulated the familiarity between Q, Ben and Radar. It made us all laugh and was a fun way to give Ben and Lacey the beginnings of a connection. We approve.
No SeaWorld adventure
Because as we now know, SeaWorld is the worst. Next.
Speeding up the solving of the clues
The solving of Margo’s elaborate clues takes up a large portion of Green’s book. In order to hold the interest of the audience, the filmmakers chose to really condense down this section and in our opinion, it worked. In a book, you’re happy to read through the slow burn of the mystery; in a film you need to amp up the action. Moving up the roadtrip to take place directly after the party kept the pacing strong and added some increased humour thanks to a still-drunk Ben.
Angela joining the roadtrip
One criticism of Green’s Paper Towns is that it is very male-centric. Yes, Margo is a main character, but she is hardly present during the main portion of the novel. The only female character we spend any real time with is Lacey. It was a great choice to add Angela to the roadtrip, which balanced out the female roles, gave Radar more to do, and also put another person of color in a more prominent role.
Moving Prom to the end of the story
Rather than taking place in the middle of the story, Prom became the climax of Paper Towns. This helped to move the focus away from Q’s pursuing of Margo and back onto his friendships with Ben and Radar — and now with Lacey and Angela as well. It also gave the story a sense of urgency, and a reason for the other four to leave Q behind and therefore give him and Margo a nice long scene together. Plus, what is a teen movie without a slow motion Prom scene?