A lot of the movie "I Am Number Four" was consistent with the book. The book, as is often the case, covers a lot more actual story than the movie, which often shortens scenes, or combines multiple scenes into one. There are a few discrepancies with the book that I would like to point out in the movie.
After the introduction, the movie is correct enough to have number four, currently using the name "Daniel Jones", at a beach party at night. Unlike the book, however, Four is supposed to be on a boat, not treading water half a mile out into the ocean. Seriously, The first time I saw the movie, I thought there was going to be a shark attack. But he didn't pass out, and no one caught the obtaining of the 3rd scar on camera. When they left, they burned their important information, not six who was shown following them.The camera event is after four has developed his fire-proof powers and runs into a burning building to save his girlfriend, Sarah, but it isn't posted on a "They walk among us" website, in fact, the book says there is no such website.
Sarah, in the movie, runs a website called "Strangers in Paradise" for her photography, but in the book, once again, there is no such website. She takes several pictures of John, and it mentions her developing them in the dark room at school, but she is not trying to be a comical stalkerazzi as she appears in the movie. In the book, Four's telekinesis develops at Sarah's house when he accidentally breaks the lens of her camera because he is stressed about Henri's visit to the paranormal website operators. There is no camera with a pre-broken lens for her to give him, and he does not take a whole role of film up for pictures for her.
Which brings me to another point. The movie does not show him developing any of his powers. All he can do is turn his hands into flashlights. The movie shows him being protected from a fire by number six, who is in fact, not fire-proof. Speaking of six, she is casted as a white, blonde with an Australian accent, though she is supposed to be brunette, green eyed, and dark skinned, with no mention of any accent.
Six brings up another opinion of mine, I hope that Four will wind up falling in love with Six, and that they will be together forever on Lorien, and that he and Sarah will peacefully drift apart. Henri tells Four in the book, that once they fall in love they will be in love for their whole life, but even if he thinks he is in love with a human, he would still be able to fall into a much deeper, purer, truer love with a Loric girl, and then he goes on to mention that Four's parents were friends with the parents of a girl who is one of the 9 (now reduced to 6) on this planet. He says that their parents used to joke about them "growing up and falling in love and our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes, and said oh, my, my, my..." seriously, Taylor Swift aside. I think this is foreshadowing... I hope... that he and Six will fall in love, and that Six won't fall for Sam as she seems to be doing at the close of the movie. The only girl Sam is ever mentioned to be crushing on in the book is Emily, who is a friend of Sarah's.
The movie also does not show him communicating with animals, as is one of his other abilities. Speaking of animals, his "dog"/ lizard/ chimera from Lorien, called "Hunley" on their home planet, is named "Bernie Kosar" when Four, aka John Smith, arrives in Paradise, OH. That part was correct. But in the movie, giving him this name seems to be a bit of a joke between "John" and Henri (supposed to be pronounced ohn-REE because they are claiming that John's "father, really assigned protector, is french to cover up for his Loric accent,) though in the book, the name was on a collar tag already found on the animal.
Speaking of Henri, he does not die in the book until the final few chapters, during the battle, but he dies halfway through the movie, killed by Mogadorians at the home of the printers of "They Walk Among Us," though in the book, they escaped from the house without the mogadorians seeing them. When Henri dies in the movie, he is reduced to a pile of ash, though in the book, this only happens to the mogadorians after they die. In the book, Henri is cremated by Six, who can control the elements, and stored on a coffee can to be eventually taken back to Lorien and buried there.
There are many other differences, but I will not continue to list them, as this may make the movie seem like a dreadful waste of time. I really liked the movie. It was fabulously animated for the chimeara scenes, and the effects of the Legacies were incredible. The movie was thrilling. I actually screamed a few times! But the book was 1000X better. I would definitely recommend reading I Am Number Four, even going out of one's way to read it. It was so intense. I literally COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN.
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