Growing up, one of my most prized possessions was a book. I read it cover to cover, day after day, and never once got bored, reliving the same excitement I felt  the first day of owning it. 

The item in question was a picture book about our solar system; more specifically the planets within. Before I could add or subtract, I knew the planets and their correct orders from closest to furthest away from the sun. 

In other words, I have always loved anything to do with space. The nostalgia from that book has always been a constant comfort, even after so long.

It was no surprise that my interest piqued when ‘Project Hail Mary’ was released in late March. After breaking numerous box office records and being heavily debated as a 2026 Oscar contender, the success of the film caught my attention.

However, before I could watch the movie, I felt obligated to stick to my roots and read the book first.

‘Project Hail Mary,’ written by author Andy Weir, was published in May of 2021. The book follows scientist Ryland Grace as he suddenly jolts awake in a panic, finding himself alone on a spaceship. All the while not having any idea who he was or why he was there. 

This was the first main difference I noticed between both versions. In the book, it takes Grace days in isolation for him to remember who he was, finding little to no clues about himself on his spaceship. Conversely, in the movie, a machine database immediately tells Grace who he is once he wakes up.

Here, I much preferred the book. Grace had been forced to look for things that would trigger memories, where he gained pieces of his memory back; almost like building blocks of the foundation to his whole mission. It not only allowed us to see more about Grace’s life before his mission, but also about the people he interacted with daily. The film utilized flashbacks, but significantly less. 

Weir invents the novel’s main antagonist, ‘The Petrova Line,’ as a paradoxical phenomenon, where scientists on Earth had noticed an arching line that connected the Sun and Venus. A line that had defied all natural laws, especially that it was thought to have been harnessing energy from the sun, effectively dimming it.  

Scientists had launched an urgent mission to collect a sample, and were horrified to find microorganisms that lived in the line were in fact, eating the sun’s energy, and the energy of every star within a certain range, minus one.  They had projected the Earth would enter an ice age in the following years. 

This was named ‘Astrophage’ by Grace himself. His mission was to go to Tau Ceti, the only star that had been seemingly unaffected, and figure out why. This was something that I was grateful stayed the same in both productions.  I think if any of this storyline were tampered with, it would not be the same story.

Yet, I did feel as if the explanation of the predicament was more ambiguous in the movie. In the book, I wasn’t confused about the Petrova Line or the Astrophage. Grace constantly ran experiments or tests, and went into explaining the physics behind them. In the movie, I felt the explanations were vague and sometimes confusing, only being briefly mentioned in the beginning.

Next, the majority of the movie and book were centered around what Grace had encountered in space: another life form. 

Through trying to convince himself against interacting with it, as a scientist Grace cannot ignore his curious nature. Over the course of several days with trial and error from both parties, Grace becomes the first human to facilitate contact with another intelligent life form. 

From the planet of Erid, Grace meets the ‘Eridian’ creature, who almost resembles an arachnid made out of boulders. Cleverly, Grace names the creature Rocky. 

Following their meeting, Grace discovers that Rocky himself is a scientist, and also needs to find a way to combat the Astrophage to save his own planet. But first, they have to find a way to communicate with each other, since Eridians talk using musical cords. Through a few programs and many hilarious interactions, Grace and Rocky create a translator to understand each other.

This was something I thought that the movie was far better at, in their differing attempts to create Rocky’s personality.

In the book, Grace and Rocky are still close, but Rocky is much more reserved and solitary. In the movie, the duo grow close, and quickly grow to become partners in crime, where personally, I think that Rocky is funnier than some humans. Seriously, he had me crying laughing at times.

While there were subtle differences between the book and the movie, there is no doubt that ‘Project Hail Mary’ is one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I’ve seen, where the original integrity of the plot is prioritized. The little girl in me was easily blown-away, and the current version was so happy to revisit that nostalgia. It was a five-star rating from me, or as Rocky would say: Both thumbs down. Amaze, amaze, amaze.