Looking to bring someone special to see “Safe Haven” this weekend?

You may want to think again.

There are a couple questions you might need to ask to make sure it is a good idea.

The first question is if they have read the book. If the answer is yes, I highly recommend you rethink your date night idea.

The second follow up question is, do you care if the movie adheres to the book’s story? I mean, when most books are translated onto the screen, there are minute differences, right? Thoughts have to be translated weirdly and the adaptation has to be short enough so the audience doesn’t get up and walk out because they’re bored. There are legitimate reasons to tweak parts of the movie. But only parts. Not the whole thing.

Now “Safe Haven” didn’t have any minute changes, but instead enormous rewrites to the story and characters. I don’t want to give anything away, but one thing that can be mentioned is how the color of Erin’s hair was changed so that the actress could have the color that looked the best on her for most of the movie. Now Hollywood, come on. Obviously this isn’t an extremely significant part of the movie, but it was written into the book for a reason. Because of this change, anything related to the blonde and brown hair was lost within the movie.

As romantic comedies go, it wasn’t too tear jerking. Now whether you believe this is a good thing or a bad thing is totally up to you. The acting was on par with other Nicholas Sparks books that were turned into movies. The person the audience will definitely fall in love with for the sheer fact that she is adorable is the little girl, who goes by Lexi in the movie.

The child actress who plays her is bubbly, happy, and most importantly, has the charm that sweeps Katie away and makes her want to be a part of this new family’s life.

The brother Josh is also adorable, but seems to be a little angrier than he should be. He talks back to his dad, but every so often tries to a have deep conversation with him that shows how children’s minds think. These scenes are very moving because of how raw the emotion gets. As for the rest of the cast of characters, you will have to go see the movie to find out.

If I were rating Safe Haven on a five-star scale, I would probably give it a three. It’s an interesting enough story to keep you watching, but I also wouldn’t go out of my way to pay outrageous movie ticket prices for it. My advice would be to wait until it comes out on DVD and watch it with a group of your friends, where you can talk out loud about all the things that made it worse than it should have been.