>>98610469That's the thing. The more vague a children's book is, the more creative freedom the writers eventually have.
For something like Cloudy, Shrek, or Jumanji, this puts forth a lot of potential for a writer to test his storytelling skills without worrying about contradicting anything, and usually produces a good movie.
When you get into specific stories meant to say something, like The Lorax there are three options for the writer: 1. set your pride aside make a full-blown translation of the source material in a filmable format (The Snowman) 2. have enough skill to creatively weave your own version of the points the author was making, while capturing the spirit of the original (Paddington) or 3. don't give a shit and write whatever you want (Peter Rabbit, every Dr. Seuss adaptation).
Too fucking many writers pick the third option, because it's the easiest, and it's the plague of virtually all adapted works, especially video games.
