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Effy
I remember the first book-turned-movie I was upset with was “Ella Enchanted” (starring Anne Hathaway). It’s charming, sure, but it’s hardly like the book, which I loved. If they’re going to make a movie from the book, they should try to make it *like* the book.
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Nerwen Aldarion
Amen, it was NOTHING like the book. It made me so mad, they turned a beloved retelling of Cinderella into a teenage medival world? What were they thinking????
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Audrey
This is one of the movies-from-a-book I’ve always been most upset about. That book is incredible. The movie, not so much.
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Ella
Ella Enchanted was my favorite book growing up. They absolutely killed it when they made it into a movie. I knew it was going to be bad but I saw it because Cary Elwes was in it. I wanted to cry when I saw it because they butchered the story so badly.
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Nerwen Aldarion
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Ugly Jenny
I have to say that I wish one of my favorite books would be turned into a movie: The Giving Tree. But I think it would probably be too depressing for kids, because too this day I get a little teary-eyed reading it.
Bad movie from good book: my number 1 is The Count of Monte Cristo. If I haven’t read the book, I would’ve enjoyed the movie, but they butchered that masterpiece like a Thanksgiving turkey.
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Horatio
The Giving Tree is about a boy who can never get enough. His mother gives and gives, and the boy just wants more.
I used to love this story as a kid, but then realized as an adult the book’s theme. What is there to like about it?
Just wondering…
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batgirl
Giving Tree is about a needy tree/person who literally sacrifices herself for a greedy “taker” for whom everything is never enough. Used to love it; makes me sick now.
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jen
Wow, I think you guys kind missed the point of The Giving Tree. It’s supposed to be a story about unconditional love in the face of selfishness. The reader isn’t supposed to focus on the boy, but on the love of the tree.
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Gogo-t-w
That’s what I always thought.
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Gogo-t-w
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Matt
The Count of Monte Cristo was a great book. But I disagree with the movie. I loved the movie with Guy Pierce. Thought it might have actually been better than the book.
My number 1 was Jurassic Park. One of the first real novels I ever read and loved. I expected the movie to follow exactly since I was a naive kid. I was very diasappointed.
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April
The man who wrote the screenplay for The Count of Monte Cristo responded to the criticism of how much he altered the book by saying if you want to see a movie exactly like the book, just read the book! He was writing a movie, not rewriting the exact book.
Since I heard this quote (found in the special features of the movie), I have been trying to be less critical of the movies-based-on-books. They are, after all, just movies. If we readers want a movie that perfectly depicts the book, just read the book and let our imagination fly!
The movie adaptation of The Tale of Despereaux, while charming, changed some key elements of the book that I thought were important.
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Horatio
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Julz
PS I Love You was the worst movie adaptation for me. I’ll forgive a film for changing the details of a story if they manage to capture the spirit of the book, but in this case they failed on both counts.
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Chris
I AGREE!!! Wholeheartedly… i was also extremely disappointed by Confessions of a Shopaholic…
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furiousk
Agreed.
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Chris
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DW
American Psycho and Fight Club are probably two of my favorite book-to-film adaptations. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is also a great one. All three movies rank right alongside the novels, and some are even better.
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ugh
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was GREAT.
it was nothing like the book though, just some imagery and the whole food coming from the sky thing. I highly recommend anyone to see it -
Jennie
Agree with you on the first two, but I have to view Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist as a completely different movie from its source material. I like the movie, although it took me more than 2 viewings to appreciate it for what it is–a cute PG-13 romance. That’s my issue, though–the book was so much more than that. And it was more of an R than PG-13. I was annoyed that they tamed it down for the movie (as if 13-year olds were going to see that movie anyway) and altered certain things in favor of others (plumping up Caroline’s role, etc.). The movie is fine on its own, but I was definitely disappointed NOT to see some of the better stuff from the book make it in–the dark edginess, the snarky humor, the realistic sexuality. Just Hollywood getting scared again, I guess.
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ugh
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Bec
Many of my favorite books were adapted into movies long after I’ve read them. And the worst is probably Marley & Me. The book, one of my favorites. The movie, just okay. In fact, the movie missed so much of the charm of the book…
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Nate
Into the Wild is my favorite movie and I actually liked it better than the book (which I also really liked). I think Sphere is one of the worse book to movie adaptations ever.
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DW
Into the Wild is an excellent example. Fantastic book, amazing movie.
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Rory
The movie version of Into The Wild blew me away. the book was good, but not as great. The movie really got inside his head.
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Rory
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Jennie
OMG, Into the Wild was INCREDIBLE. Awesome book, incredible movie. They got it SO right. I can’t even think about it without getting a litte teary-eyed.
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DW
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Lisa Simpson
I never expect for a movie adaptation to be completely faithful to a source book. After all, movies are a visual medium and have a different storytelling language than a book does. So I take the movie as what it is, and hope that it captures the true essence of the source material while not being slavish to it if it won’t work on screen. I think the first two “Harry Potter” movies were too literal in their adaptations and the series only came into its own as a movie experience with Alfonso Cuaron’s masterful vision on the third. And I love what David Yates has done with the last two, imbuing it with a more mature, yet still magical, sensibility.
That being said, one of my favorite adaptations of a book is the two-part version of “The Three Musketeers” that Richard Lester did in the early ’70s. While staying fairly faithful to the novel, the movie is also fun and modern and wonderfully adventurous.
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e.a.y.
Completely agree with you about movies having their own language and needing to be treated differently, as well as what you said about the Harry Potter films. When the Cuaron one came out, I thought “finally these books get the treatment they deserve!”
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Charles
I love both the books and the movies. But I have to chuckle because the directors are in an impossible position. Some people complain that the first two movies were too literal but then others scream bloody murder because the later movies leave out their favorite parts. Especially after “The Half-Blood Prince”, although to be fair the addition of the Deatheaters/Burrow scene did alter the story dramatically while other pieces of the book were chopped and/or changed entirely for pacing or time constraints. I realize that part of the director’s dilemma is that the later books are so massive. At least the last book will be two movies so perhaps less will have to be cut although many fans will be disappointed regardless.
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Rory
I hated all the Harry Potter movies until the Half Blood prince. The ones before got very, very few things right. This one was good, because it kept the tone but dared to deviate from the book, while keeping in the most important things. I am now more hopeful for the last two.
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Rory
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Jane
As a huge Harry Potter fan, I understand how my fellow fans can feel upset with the movie adaptations.
After all, with such a beautiful story that are in the books, its hard to believe that ANY movie could do them justice.
However, I still love the Harry Potter adaptations all the same.
Although there are some changes that I didn’t like and i felt some parts were choppy, I still think that each movie was a GOOD movie. They each had amazing acting, and beautiful storytelling.
I applaud Warner Bros. for genuinely trying to give it their all.
It really is nearly impossible to do such books like Harry Potter justice.
Yet all the same, I enjoy seeing the trio and all my favorite locations like Hogwarts come to life.
And personally, i feel like for what they have to work with, HP is one of the FEW series adaptations that consistently are quality MOVIES.
Maybe not AMAZING adaptations… but still, great movies.
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e.a.y.
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Alicia
Ella Enchanted. I love the Cinderella adaptation. Hate the movie. I wish it would’ve stayed true to fairy tale form. The singing was a bit much in the movie, and completely unnecessary. They made the movie into a parody.
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Darren
Jaws is my favorite movie, but I didn’t like the book.
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Rachel
Me too/either!
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Jen D
Same here- the whole Mrs. Brody/Hooper affair cheapened the book, making it more of a crappy paperback.
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Rachel
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Justin
Sometimes you can take a sup bar book and make it a classic film. Take Jaws for example, a decent book about cheating spouses that the shark almost plays a supporting role to. The classic film though makes all the right movies and also fuels the imagination more then the book ever did. I’m not saying this happens a lot, but it does happen.
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talkin’
Bridges of Madison County as well
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talkin’
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mcl
Growing up I loved reading The Chronicles of Narnia and I couldn’t wait to see Lion, Witch & the Wardrobe in the theatre…I walked out of that movie so disappointed…maybe my expectations were too high but I found it too sanitized
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Vickie
Yeah, the recent movie was dreck, but the BBC adaptations from the early 90s (late 80s?) I absolutely loved as a child.
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Lisa
Aw, I read and re-read those movies so often as a child, and I loved the recent adaptation of TLTWATW. However, I did not like how much farther they pushed the violence in Prince Caspian; already my least favorite book, that castle scene was a bit much to add on. I watched those BBC adaptations from the 80s as a child, and was very disappointed in them at the time.
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Maureen
I loved the BBC versions, too. But my kids (adults now) think they look lame in retrospect. My husband, who never read the Narnia books, loves the movies.
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Lisa
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Nerwen Aldarion
Disagree completely. I loved the book and thought that the movie was a really good adaptation.
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Angela M.
Agree with Nerwen, I thought the Narnia film adaptations, especially ‘Wardrobe,’have been gorgeous so far. I remember the BBC adaptations from 1989 but honestly they were visually ugly, and almost seemed delight in making Narnia as un-magical as possible. Whereas the recent adaptations are truly magical to me — when the wardrobe opens, or Tumnus meets Lucy, or when the two armies meet upon the plain, it’s astonishingly beautiful.
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Angela M.
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Vickie
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yoosh
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald should absolutely be made into a movie.
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Me
“The Princess and the Goblin” was made into an animated film back in 1992. I’ve never seen it myself, but it seems to have gotten good feedback.
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Me
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Ninny
I always feel like the best books-turned-movies are the ones that do stand slightly separate from the original prose, where the cinema gives you the familiar story but just a different feeling.
I adored the movie “The Devils Wear Prada,” but absolutely abhorred the book. Whereas great actors like Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci brought wit and nuance, Lauren Weisberger’s story had nothing but whine.
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Lisa Simpson
Meryl Streep also managed to raise the dreck that was “The Bridges of Madison County” up to a palatable level.
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crod
I agree. I saw the movie and loved it, I figured the book would have been so much better. I found the book to be so dry.
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Lisa Simpson
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Vickie
I think the worst book-to-movie adaptation I’ve seen was Confessions of a Shopaholic. The book itself wasn’t my favorite, but I enjoyed it. The movie was horrible-they took out all the charm and even moved the setting from London to New York. I will never understand why movie makers feel the need to set movies in the US! That is my biggest pet peeve when turning a book into a movie–don’t assume we Americans won’t go see a movie simply because it takes place in another country!
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Adriana
Yes! I hated how they mixed plots from books 1 & 2 into that movie. That ruined it. Seeing the movie made want to read the series. Book was way more entertaining.
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Adriana
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e.a.y.
I think the first two “Godfather” movies are much better than Mario Puzzo’s novel “The Godfather.” It’s more moving, gripping, and elegantly done. We can try to forget about the third movie.
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McCoy
Agrred. The films were better than the source material.
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McCoy
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'Where the Wild Things Are': Should favorite books be made into movies?
I’ve made it pretty clear how much I love Spike Jonze’s movie Where the Wild Things Are. But I also feel the pain of a commenter on this site who expressed dismay at the idea of Maurice Sendak’s book being adapted at all. “Children’s books are wonderful because books allow kids to use their imagination,” this poster explained. These stories are amazing just as they are, they do not need to be made into movies.” I know just how the writer feels. The more I love a book (whether Horton Hears a Who or Blindness), the more protective I feel about it; I’m sure Harry Potter readers feel the same way. (For the record, I loved the movie version of Horton; Blindness, on the other hand, was a bust.)
Since the world spins forward and pop culture feeds on itself, I don’t think there’s much chance of stopping the great march of literature-into-cinema. (Well, probably J.D.Salinger can put the brakes on a project.) Of course, you can choose not to mess with your imagination, and skip the movie version. (Too bad, because then you’d miss the movie-screen glories of Rebecca, Gone With the Wind, The Lord of the Rings, and even Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.) But if you choose to go, not only to Wild Things but to any movie made from a book you love, ask yourself this: Does the movie do justice to the spirit and tone of the original, if not the details? Does the movie have a…well, soul? A coherence, an aesthetic integrity of its own? I haven’t seen the movie version of The Road yet, the one starring Viggo Mortensen, but I know it’s got a lot to live up to, since Cormac McCarthy’s book was bleak almost beyond picturing….
So let me ask you this: What good movie has been made out of a book you love? And for that matter, what movie has gotten a beloved book all wrong?