7 Biggest Changes Remarkably Bright Creatures Makes To Shelby Van Pelt’s Book

Like the book, the Netflix film dives into the unexpected friendship between a woman in her 70s named Tova, a 30-year-old newcomer to town named Cameron, and a great Pacific octopus named Marcellus. All of the three have experienced losses, and they heal through their connections. As ScreenRant’s Molly Freeman writes in her review of Remarkably Bright Creatures, the movie feels like a warm hug, balancing the heavier themes of grief with moments of levity. Just like the book, the movie adaptation brought tears to my eyes multiple times.

However, changes are inevitable with every adaptation. Different mediums have different needs. Plus, onscreen adaptations have the opportunity to bring something new to the table that wasn’t present in the source material. Remarkably Bright Creatures makes some smaller changes, like Tova joining the Knit Wits before her son’s death instead of after, and Erik choosing Cameron’s name. However, the movie also makes many major changes to Shelby Van Pelt’s book, deepening the characters and strengthening their connections.

Tova’s Connection To Charter Village Is Much Stronger In Netflix’s Movie

In Shelby Van Pelt’s book, Tova’s only connection to Charter Village is that her brother, whom she hated, lived there up until his death. Ultimately, her fear of going through old age alone makes sense. I can understand why she would consider a senior living community. However, her decision to move somewhere with such a negative association has always felt a little odd to me.

The Netflix movie completely removes the brother she hates from the story. Instead, her connection to Charter Village is positive, albeit bittersweet. Her husband, Will, signed them up to move there before he got sick. Instead of being connected to someone she hates, the community is associated with the man she loved.

With that in mind, it makes much more sense for her to leave her friends and a job she loves to move to Charter Village. It’s what her husband wanted for her, and she is the kind of person who would want to honor that.

Cameron Inherited The Camper Van After His Mother’s Death

In the book version of Remarkably Bright Creatures, Cameron buys a camper van when he gets to Sowell Bay because he has nowhere to stay. His choice to live there is one of convenience. If he had another option in Sowell Bay, he wouldn’t choose it. However, the movie gives the camper a much more significant meaning.

Cameron inherits the camper van after his mother’s death. She overdosed in the camper, and it’s a physical wreck. She was living in squalor. However, he still chooses to keep it and live in it, even when he has another option. Ethan happily offers him the couch, but Cameron still chooses the van.

Because of this, the camper is the physical embodiment of his trauma and emotional baggage. His mother neglected him and abandoned him for that camper van. Her substance use disorder prevented her from being a present mother, and it got so severe that she died from it in that van.

Avery & Cameron Don’t Date Across The Entire Movie

In That Octopus Book, Cameron and Avery start dating pretty quickly after he arrives in Sowell Bay. Their relationship is really cute. However, one part of it just felt completely out of place. When Cameron learns that Avery has a son, he’s fine with it. This is just completely out of character.

As much as I’m a fervent defender of book Cameron, he is emotionally immature and a prime example of arrested development. He carries serious abandonment wounds, especially when it comes to his father. Frankly, his reaction in the Netflix original movie is much more in line with what I would expect from either version of the character.

He panics. He gets overwhelmed. He runs. Eventually, once he has processed some of his grief and gained more maturity, he comes back around and apologizes. Avery has always been a very sweet and mature person, and she deserves this version of Cameron that has taken steps forward.

A major complaint that people had about Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures is that Marcellus the Octopus had surprisingly little time in the book. It was advertised as a book about the unexpected friendship between a woman in her 70s named Tova, a Great Pacific Octopus named Marcellus, and a 30-year-old man named Cameron.

The fact that the story featured an octopus as one of its narrators made it feel unique. He provided an outside perspective on the world and humanity. One would think he’d have as much of a presence as the other two, but he doesn’t.

Netflix’s adaptation, starring Sally Field, changes that. The movie gives Marcellus and Cameron a friendship, allowing the octopus to have more screen time. Even if the Marcellus thinks Cameron drones on a little too much, it’s clear that he actually cares about the young man. Rather than seeing Cameron as a tool for Tova’s healing, the octopus does actually seem to care about both of them.

Cameron has had a hard life in both versions of Remarkably Bright Creatures. His mother had a substance use disorder, and she neglected him. When he was still a boy, she abandoned him. She dropped him at his aunt’s house and said she’d come back. She never did. Eventually, his aunt adopted him and cared for him. This makes him seem ungrateful when he says in his narration that he could never live in his aunt’s second bedroom.

The Remarkably Bright Creatures character has a lot more tragic backstory in the movie, though. His mother still had a substance use disorder and abandoned him when he was a boy. All he had to remember was her guitar, which is why his music is so important to him. Instead of having a stable environment, he bounced around. He was moved back and forth between his aunt, a neighbor, and a complete stranger.

He still comes to Sowell Bay looking for his father, saying it’s because he wanted all the child support that he never received. However, it quickly becomes clear that he just wants to find his father. He is devastated when he can’t find Simon Brinks. Then, he’s angry when he finally thinks he’s confronting his dad. Ultimately, all of these elements make Cameron a much more complex and sympathetic character.

Tova Goes To Watch Cameron At Open Mic Night

Cameron’s connection to music is much deeper in Netflix’s Remarkably Bright Creatures than it is in the book. As previously mentioned, his only real connection to his mother while he was growing up was her old guitar. He taught himself how to play. As an adult, he started a band. Every single step of the way, his music was an anchor. Understandably, he becomes upset when the band breaks up.

In the book, he essentially gives up on music as soon as Moth Sausage breaks up. However, he maintains this important connection in the movie. He plays the guitar with Ethan. He introduces Tova to different music, and he listens to hers. Cameron even decides to perform at an open mic night.

One of the most beautiful moments of support is when Tova agrees to go with him. Tova thinks of music as too much noise, but she still shows up for him. When everyone is talking over Cameron, she even tries to yell at them to be quiet. It’s a true moment of support. The most moving part of this is that she shows up for him as a family member would, even before she knows he’s her grandson.

Tova Took Her Anger & Grief Out On Cameron

In Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, Tova is the level-headed and mature one, and Cameron is the emotionally immature and volatile one. He loses it on a few different occasions. Tova is short with him a few times, but she never really loses her temper. However, the Netflix show makes the character a little less flawless and a little more human.

Tova definitely still acts compassionate and friendly most of the time. She still is lonely and worried about how she will handle life without her husband. However, she is also a bad friend at times. She berates a man she thinks is Cameron’s father and shouts at people to be quiet in the bar.

The most significant human moment, though, is when she breaks down towards the end of Remarkably Right Creatures. She has an emotional breakdown, tearing apart her son’s old bedroom. Then, she does something that I couldn’t imagine the book Tova ever doing. She blows up at Cameron, yelling at him for trying to help her and screaming at him to get out. By making Lewis Pullman's Cameron more sympathetic and Sally Field's Tova more flawed, they feel like equally flawed individuals trying to navigate life's hard parts.