emmabredius I found this movie a great one! It had a great storyline, and I liked how the reality was formed into the story, where Clary couldn't see the world as it was after what had passed between her and Jace. However, I personally do not believe them to be related, for the storyline would be too cliche in my opinion. That is exactly why I adored how Clary just steps onto the bike with Jace and they ride into the distance, without any clearance of what would be in store for them and their relationship in future. I close off with what has been said before, I really enjoyed the movie.

mockinghare - - This review may contain a few minor spoilers - - - In my opinion this is quite a fantastic adaptation of Cassandra Clare's first book in the The Mortal Instrument series. It's fast-paced and full of everything that makes Fantasy fun: friendship, betrayal, magical creatures, witches, the struggle between good and evil although those are sometimes not easily identified... Lily Collins - though lacking book-Clary's signature flaming red hair - is a perfect cast for the character of Clary and funnily enough after watching Aidan Turner's performance as a vampire in "Being Human" I thought he would be perfect for the role of the werewolf Luke. Cudos to the casting director, he truly found the perfect actor for each role and the chemistry between Clary/Jace and Luke/Jocelyn (even if they got very little screen time together) was superb. I also enjoyed that the characters all really had their own distinct voice and personality. Jace's arrogance and hidden vulnerability really came through in Jamie Campbell Bower's performance and the same goes Clary, whose bravery and determination were great fun to watch. You go, girl! All in all this adaptation is pretty true to the books with a few minor changes as those scenes or plot lines would have not translated to the screen too well. I was impressed by the cinematography and the contrast between modern NYC and the Shadowhunters' medieval kind of world and lifestyle. Fortunately the vomit-inducing incest storyline was basically capped from the movie (or at least we know what was what from the get-go unlike in the books).As with most movies this one had a few flaws as well. The screenwriter apparently did NOT understand how the portal worked! Valentine reaching out from beyond it was a cheap horror movie moment that was both point- and senseless. What is going to happen with Simon now that he was bitten? This should have been explained. I'm also disappointed they cut one of my favorite characters from the movie: Raphael Santiago. Not that it actually matters since there won't be a second movie unfortunately. If you paid attention to the background story/flashback scenes you understood why Valentine was adamant Clary drink his blood from the Mortal Cup but I think this may have been confusing for those who didn't read the books. The same goes for Clary's talent to create runes, which admittedly isn't explained in book #1 but on screen this suddenly appearing talent seemed just like bad writing. They needed to somehow magically turn the tables during the end fight and then voilá, Clary discovers this previously never mentioned or explained talent to save the day. I would have loved to see the original trilogy adapted completely. The TV show is so poorly produced, the acting so sub-par and the entire story only loosely based on the books anymore that I couldn't get through more than a few episodes.

MidnightSilverRaven This review might contain spoilers.With very few new original ideas or reimagining that are still trapped in the creative mind, filmmakers sometimes must turn to preexisting properties. The main source of this being books. Who doesn't want to see a real personified version of their favorite book character? However, how far can this go? Basically, fans should be prepared to see scenes and details cut for their beloved series. But how much can this hurt or help a movie adaptation? City of Bones is the first book of a six book series about a girl named Clary Fray who finds out she's not your 'average girl' and part of secret demon-hunting race known as the Shadowhunters. After her mother is kidnapped, Clary must work alongside accomplish Shadowhunter Jace Wayland to not only find her mother, but a recently lost artifact from his clan called the Mortal Cup. This book is basically the construction of the magical world Cassandra Clare has created and background info needed for this series and is considered by many fans of the series to be one of their least favorite because of this and its slow pace. Due to this and the movie only being two hours long, unlike many other fantasy movies, much is lost in the constructing this magical world, characters' background, and their motivations.I know movies differ from their source material, sometimes, but The Mortal Instruments City of Bones movie takes this to a whole another level. In both the book and movie, a character is supposed to betray the team to the antagonist. However, in the book, he attacks the main character after his curse is lifted, part of the book's mythos that was left out of the movie, before she saved by other character. This mythos plays a big part in the series. It showed how harsh and unforgiving the central government of the Shadowhunters were. They put a curse on this character where he/she was forbidden to leave the home base of the Shadowhunters in New York City area. The movie, however, makes it where he allows demons to penetrate the institute by opening the ceiling with a lever which he breaks off, hides only a few feet away so he can return to redeem himself before the end of the movie. In the book series, he does return but not until a later book and he never really gets a redeeming moment. The Mortal Instruments City of Bones is also a bad movie, because it loses many of the themes from the book. Like many of the more recent books in the Young Adult genre, this book questioned certain political views. Going back to lost information, we never even get a mention of the governing of the Shadowhunter clan. The movie doesn't even show how Shadowhunters dislike mundanes, or normal humans like you and me, or the Downworlders, basically the magical beings of this worlds. Other than Shadowhunters, that basically everyone they are supposed to be protecting. Are Shadowhunters really as good as they think they are? The book shows us both the light side and dark side of things. Is our main character really a good person? What about her mother? Is Jace a product of our antagonist's mind or is own person? Speaking of our antagonist.Lastly, The Mortal Instruments movie utterly changing of the antagonist and the spoiler that went along with that. In the book, one of the scarier thing about the antagonist is the way he could manipulate people with just his words, twisting their wills, meeting his own desires even if it was benefiting the other person or not. The movie portrays him like a villain you would find in a children's TV show. This leads me to the spoiler that the antagonist and our good friend mentioned above reveal in the movie. I will not give it away here, but the movie flat out gives away a spoiler for the book series that isn't supposed to be answer till book three. In the books, the audience is carried along with the suspense with the characters, not knowing the truth till they know. This not only changed the dynamic of the rest of the series if they had continued with some other minor changes to the ending of the movie, but the dynamic of a very complex character. I don't believe that his backstory was mention or, if so, was simpled down. All this and much more is why I would strongly recommend reading the book over watching the movie.

Silver ---SPOILERS ---It is 2016 and I just watched the show "Shadowhunters". This actually made me watch the movie again and let me tell you something - after that "masterpiece" I find the movie (2013) even better than the first time I saw it. OK, maybe some of the characters weren't well introduced. Like Alex. Not as I pictured him, not at all.Or Isabelle - much tougher than the one in the book and the "femininity"was kinda lacking, but! in the first book she is quite tough and I guess any critics could be fixed in the sequel. Of course they changed some things - it is a movie and it is not The LOTR to have 3 hours for one part. Yes, they may could have explained some things better - the Clave, the Valentine's Uprise, why did Jace believed him so easily that this is his father... etc. but this could have been fixed in the sequel. I repeat myself I know but after watching the "Shadowhunters" I am almost desperate to get to the sequel of the 2013 version. I don't know why did they canceled the shooting one week before the start, but that was a mistake. Usually in such cases money are involved. Now let me tell you something - canceling the sequel of 2013 version was a BAD business decision. In times when mediocrity rules the movie world people get picky, and I am sure I am not the only one Cassandra Claire's fan that feels this way ... The movie must have had a chance.