We received a free review copy of the book Flora and Ulysses from Candlewick Press. Flora & Ulysses is being turned into a movie for Disney + and debuts tomorrow. Opinions are our own.
So, I asked for this book so that Andy could read it. I figured that there were some illustrations inside that he would enjoy and he might also like the story since the book was being made into a movie for Disney Plus. He did not read the book. I read the book. It was a quick read filled with interesting characters. The character of Flora is the most interesting character of the book. She is described as a natural born cynic. How she got to be this way is sort of subtly explained. Flora lives with her mother who is a romance writer. She observes a squirrel being sucked up into a vacuum and saves him. The squirrel she names Ulysses after the vacuum hat has changed his life. Ulysses is now a Superhero. Ulysses ends up doing many fantastical things like write poetry and fly. He is also super strong. It feels like every character in the book is moving in slow motion to me. There is a lot of sadness and very little hope. Flora is always saying: “Do not hope, observe.” and for the most part this is what she does through the book until there is no denying that hope is just what is needed. I can’t say that I truly liked the book but I am glad that I read it especially because of the movie on Disney +.
I have just watched the movie on Disney + and I really enjoyed it. I am glad that I read the book first because I learned a lot about many things that motivated the characters. I like how the movie made the mother and father more 3 dimensional and gave them a better story. The mom is also not as awful as she is in the book. She is more sad and caught within her own grief. The dad is as well and I liked who they got to play the parts of the parents, Ben Schwartz and Alyson Hannigan.
There was a definite Disney + influence to the movie and there were some subtle things that were added. For instance. Flora’s dad was a comic book artist who created a character of Incandesto which was the made up super hero from the novel. This change gave much more depth to the family’s story. But also because of Disney and MArvel we even had a subtle tribute to the late Stan Lee as the character of a comic book shop owner was named Stanlee. I found that put by going to the IMDB page and learning that bit of fun trivia. I think the movie overall made the characters much more sympathetic. Matilda Lawler was an adorable and lovely Flora. She was very cold in the book but Matilda gave her such warmth.
I’d recommend reading the book and then watching the movie because both were enjoyable in their own way and one gives more depth to the other. You can pick the book up on Amazon.com through our affiliate link below.