Review of Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) by Rebecca31 — 24 Jul 2022

Based on the bestselling book by Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing has finally made it to the big screen. The book is a terrific and immersive story that you just can’t put down, so expectations were very high. I was a little worried about this adaptation, and despite some surprisingly negative critic reviews I can safely say Where the Crawdads Sing is a great drama/romance/mystery you just have to see in the cinema.

Kya Clark (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a girl abandoned by her family and left alone to raise herself in the marshes in the Deep South. Shunned by society and completely neglected, Kya lives deep within the marshlands of North Carolina, alone and forced to fend for herself. She becomes engrossed with nature and everything life in the marsh has to offer. But when Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) is found dead under suspicious circumstances it isn’t long before the blame is placed on the marsh girl who must then try to prove her innocence in front of a jury of her peers.

Where the Crawdads Sing is an emotional and intense story with a strong central performance from Daisy Edgar-Jones. She was a brilliant choice for Kya the marsh girl. The two male leads by both Taylor John Smith and Harris Dickinson seem to be pretty much lifted straight from the book. The performances from everyone are brilliant with the standouts being Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jojo Regina as the young Kya. A story with this much emphasis on the characters needs to get the casting right, and Where the Crawdads Sing definitely achieved this. It elevates this film to have genuine characters with onscreen chemistry and plenty of time to flesh out the story.

The film itself is a little slow to begin and I feel the flashbacks were handled better in the book. The pacing also seemed to be an issue at times but as the film progresses you become more reeled into the story as you become more and more invested in Kya’s journey. The book brought the marsh to life and was written in such a way that you became fully immersed in it. The film also captured this very effectively and everything from the cinematography and atmosphere to the soundtrack perfectly creates the beautiful landscapes of the marsh. Where The Crawdads Sing almost has an old fashioned nostalgic feel to it. It’s sad, heart-breaking and will hit you in all the feels. It appears that director Olivia Newman took great care in bringing the book to cinemas which can’t be said for every book to movie adaptation.

Look we all know it’s very rare for the movie to be good as or better than the book and the bar was very high for Where the Crawdads Sing. For those wondering, yes the book is better but it’s still a great adaptation that will cater to both those who have and haven’t read it. And sure, some critics didn’t like it for whatever reason but the audience will love it, the screening I went to was packed and you could hear a pin drop. Everyone was completely captivated by the movie. So who are you going to listen to? Have I steered any of you wrong before? Highly recommended for everyone.