Movie Adapations: Anothe puzzle solved by Proffesor Layton

Movie adaptations. Two words that make video game and anime fans cry a bit inside. Comics have it great nowadays what with all those Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy and (hopefully) Supermans VS Batmans , but what do gamers get? Phoenix Wrights and Needs for Speed, which was too little Speed and too many "Needs" if you catch my drift. Yet there is one gentleman who leads with his example: Profesor Hershel Layton.

The people behind the movie Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva did a bunch of things so right , yet other creator seem to lack that logic. They understood the characters and their old media and transitioned them almost flawlessly to the bigger screen. For starters they understood the great difference between the two formats, time. A normal movie lasts 2 and a half hours on average. When someone makes a 2 and a half hours long game we cry murder! On the other hand the first and shortest Layton game took me 12 to finish the first time around. 12 hours of movie time is not a movie, it's a series! So what the creator of Eternal Diva should be talked about for generations.

[Don't worry for spoilers. This article will only have one, with names hidden and the movie gives it away 15 minutes in.]

For starters, don't bother with an origin story. Just  don't. Why? Because fans already know and newcomers don't care. You know how Eternal Diva starts?  It starts with Luke saying "I'm Luke, I can speak to animals, he is Layton , archeologists, puzzle fanatic and professional gentleman, we are from a game and have been in many adventures but this is one of Layton's earliest ones." BOOM! Start of the movie. Everyone is on board, we know who each person is and what he does, and heck if you don't believe the intro Layton solves a mystery in the first 3 minutes of the movie just to prove dis shiet. Other movies take 20 minutes just to let us know who we are looking at. Uncle Bens and Granpa Gohans,please go die somewhere else. Or in the first 5 minutes. There is a movie we need to get going.

Next on the list is the story. Make something new. I know this is an adaptation,but seriously offer something new to the viewers. Sure,newcomers will be surprised when Von Karma turns out to be evil, but we already know( though newcomers will also guess it as Von Karma has the only actor that gives two shits). Eternal Diva does this amazingly, giving a new yet cannon (I think) story. Cannon is not even necesary. The Prince of Persia did this great as well , where only the Prince and the macguffin made the transition to movie, and everything else was new. Note however that just because you brought something new doesn't mean you don't get to try. Speak with the Super Mario bros for clarification (MONKEY!).

Another important point is the villain. If you are bringing a new villain to the table sure ,he needs his time. But don't waste too much time on setting up the villain,new or old. Truth be told ,while Layton didn't take too much time , he kinda fumbles a bit. The villain is from a previous game, but when Layton meets him he is surprised and all like "It's [him] !". Of course it's him, we have been seeing his modus operatti from the begining. However he has a new motive,and essentially is the thing everyone is looking for, so 0 time to set that up. 

And lastly , respect the source material. This might sound contradictory to my "New thing"point but it isn't. You know how Eternal Diva  respected the source material by presenting a nice mystery with the same sci-fi undertones of the games . AND as a nice wink to the fans, the villain brought a projector showing "Puzzle 001" and a gramophone playing the puzzle background music (kinda breaking the 4th wall but at least it is NOT Stan Lee going to Reed and Sue's wedding) . On the other hand the Phoenix Wright movie has Phoenix being almost ready to cry ( or pass a kidney stone,the acting is kinda shit) at every minor digficulty. Sure,we know that that is true in the games, but we do as the player. He never shows it . He always looks confident  as he bullshits about how uneaten steaks mean murder. In the movie he begs and begs for the answer while throwing evidence left and right. He doesn't even smile when things go back, the ONE advice he has from Mia.

So in case you are wondering I really like Eternal Diva. I know you are smart people and have gathered  that, I just don't know how to epilogue this article. I suppose that if  this was on YouTube I would make a stupid  joke and my outro music would fade in. So imagine I did that while Dark Pit's theme plays.