Where the Crawdads Sing is a murder mystery written by zoologist and conservationist Delia Owens and published in 2018. It was the author's debut novel and an immediate success. Where the Crawdads Sing has sold over 12 million copies, making it one of the most sold novels of all time, and it spent over 150 consecutive weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. Given the novel's staggering success, it should not be surprising that it was subject to a film adaptation. The movie was released in July 2022, but the adaptation has not been the recipient of the same immediate acclaim that the novel garnered.
However, there is a lot to love about Where the Crawdads Sing, even for the most critical of moviegoers. Much of the film's cast delivers solid enough performances to make their on-screen characters accurate representations of their literary counterparts. The cinematography is absolutely stunning, and although the film's drama is not entirely accurate to the slow-paced and almost meditative prose of the novel, it makes for powerful entertainment. The film is absolutely a must-watch, especially for those who are fans of Delia Owen's story.
Here are some of the best parts of the Where the Crawdads Sing film adaptation.
Daisy Edgar-Jones' Performance as Catherine 'Kya' Clark 
It would not be fair to pen a piece about the film without mentioning that reviews were somewhat mixed. Despite being panned by many critics, the unanimous consensus among critics and audiences alike was that Daisy Edgar-Jones was perfectly cast as The Marsh Girl Kya.
Kya would be a complicated character for any actor to portray. Much of her personal growth happens in solitude, and given that Kya was abandoned at a young age, she has massive gaps in her social skills. Daisy Edgar-Jones manages to walk the tightrope that is Kya's personality, being simultaneously strong and silent in the most literal sense of the phrase.
The Stunning North Carolinian Marshland Scenery 
The scenery is essential in any film. However, in Where the Crawdads Sing, the setting is one of the most important characters. Kya is abandoned by her entire family at a young age and is forced to learn how to survive in her surroundings, the swamps of North Carolina. Descriptions of the marsh are essential to the novel, and ultimately, categorizing flora and fauna of said marsh becomes Kya's life's work.
The film wasn't actually filmed in North Carolina. Instead, the cinematographers felt that Louisiana's Fontainebleau State Park would be an accurate substitute, and they were absolutely correct in that regard. If the film's scenery was not beautiful, the entire story of Where the Crawdads Sing, which centers around Kya's love of her swampy surrounding, would fail to resonate with audiences.
With its beautiful forests and stunning water features, Fontainebleau State Park lived up to the challenges presented by adapting a novel with a heavy reliance on its setting. By the end of the film, it is hard not to be as in love with the natural environment as you are with the character of Kya.
A Gripping Courtroom Drama Surrounding a Beloved Local Boy
Though the novel version of Where the Crawdads Sing spent the bulk of its pages exploring the life and times of The Marsh Girl Kya, the film opted for a more cinematic approach to the story, focusing more on the story's murder trial.
Those who read Where the Crawdads Sing before seeing the film would have likely preferred for more of the film to focus on Kya and her wild childhood. However, the film adaptation's courtroom scenes were incredibly gripping, and it surely left audiences at the edge of their seats. Much like readers of the novel, viewers of the film are forced to speculate whether or not Kya is guilty of murder. As her backstory is revealed through conversations with her lawyer, audience sympathy for the character rises to match the incriminating evidence being released against her.
Where the Crawdads Sing reviews show that the film adaptation is far from perfect. However, much like the North Carolinian marsh that the film takes place in, beauty can absolutely be gleamed from within the murkier facets of its overall cinematic worth. Daisy Edgar-Jones' performance as Kya was pitch-perfect and was accurate enough to the novel's version of the character to please even the most finicky literary elitist. Louisiana's Fontainebleau National Park proved beautiful enough to match the reader's mental image of Kya's beloved North Carolinian swamp home.
At the end of the day, the film was, at its core, a competent courtroom drama. Though not everyone is singing its praises, Where the Crawdads Sing is undoubtedly worth the watch.