Movies based on books.

[BellaLuna42]

I think some books that were turned into movies turned out pretty weel, like Harry Potter, other then the third one, they had almost evrything that happend in the book, happen in the movie. But sometimes the movie stinks, like the movie To Kill A Mockingbird, they left out so meny good things that I was dissapointed when I saw the movie.

[kari-chipmunk]

It depends on the book and the movie. I'll admit that I hadn't read the Lord of the Rings books prior to seeing the first two movies (though I had read the Hobbit). I read the books before I saw the third, and didn't like it quite as much due to that. I still thought they did a decent job, even though they obviously created random fans who had not read the books and changed or left out parts. I thought it was worth it just for the amazing visuals (and no, I'm not talking about Orlando Bloom).
However, I really disliked the first Harry Potter movie and haven't seen the other two. I think HP is over-hyped anyway, but the movies just didn't sit right with me. I've heard good things about this last one from my friends (though everything here seems to be bad!), but I highly doubt I'll be seeing it. I can understand why they change things, but that doesn't mean I like it.
Ella Enchanted was one of my favorite books in fifth grade or whenever it came out, and I was seriously disturbed by the movie trailers. I'm not touching that one, which is what I generally do with book-movies, especially when I've read the books. I'm a bit of a stubborn purist.

[Sgt Arashi Shippuu]

They only make the movie exaggerated so people will watch it, even though some movies are actually good like Brian's Song

[ogdred]

Okay, here's an odd one: Ghost World.
I loved the book and the movie equally, but they were completely different from each other. The book had way more of Rebecca and virtually no Seymore, while the movie was mainly focused on Seymore and Enid. I know that the guy who wrote the book co-wrote the movie with the director. Maybe that has something to do with it. Perhaps movie adaptions would be better made with more author input.

[Gavan LaviethIIII]

I don't mind movies based on books. But the book is ALWAYS better.

[Heidi no Lux]

I think those that say "the movie skipped a lot" or such don't really get the phenominal structural difference between novels and movies. Screenwriters often have to make these changes and omissions for the project to work on screen. That said, the original is usually the superior, and my theory behind that is because it's its initially intended form. Adaptation is my favourite adaptation ever, and that totally changes the story in order to turn it into something new. I think if the screenwriter doesn't do that, then the film will not be as good as the book, and often just turn into a dull, projected version of the story - the later Lolita is one that comes to mind - not a bad film, but it just seems so dull and ordinary when compared to the book.

[Heidi no Lux]

stardust diva

4 all the people complaining about the harry potter 3 movie, i'll just say this.
i was on msn today, in movies goss about three weeks ago and it said that people signed a petition and sent it to Warner Brothers saying that they were dissapointed so they would like the next movie to have everything included and not cut out anything. So please stop complaining.

When Nabokov wrote the initial screenplay for Lolita, Kubrick sent it back complaining that the film in that form would be 12 hours long.

You have to ommit things when adapting novels - they are simply too long. Which is why I think short stories actually make better films...

[Nuele]

Kira_Koneko

Jurassic Park: Ok, I must admit, a very good movie ( despite the fact that T-rexes werent in the Jurassic era...) ...... but then when I read the book I was like wait..... I dont remember that, or that, or this, that wasnt in there either..... ect. stare

Both the book and the movie Jurassic Park were riddled with inconsistencies, but they were still great.
I never read Jaws, but I heard it was terrible book. That's one of the rare cases in which most people will say the film was better than the original.
Somebody mentioned that cartoon of The Hobbit? That was a crime again literature. Absolutely horrible. I enjoyed it because I found it hilarious.
Fight Club was a great movie and a better book, just because of some of the things they flipped around and choices of ommited scenes. It handled the ending a little better too, I think.
I enjoyed the film LotR trilogy a lot, but I'll agree that it hyped it all way too much. The Harry Potter series has been decent so far, but I never saw the third one (not that I didn't want to, I just never did).

I got used to books-turned-movies leaving out scenes or exercising a little "creativity," but when they totally change things, I get ticked. Like in the Two Towers, how they changed around Faramir's character. They made him seem really evil, and I really didn't like it. He was actually my favorite character, so that aggravated me.

[TeufelChen]

Yeah, Practically all mivies nowadays are adaptations, it kinda dissapoints me. The thing i truly hate, more than anything else, is when right as the movie is making all its promos, or right when its come out, there is all sorts of merchandise for it. I mean, like all that Spider-Man stuff that's been out lately. It's only because of the movie that they make it. I mean, It's been out for like 20 years, why can't anyone acknowledge its existance back when it was just a book or the like?

[Foxglove_Wanderer]

I understand how turning a book into a movie can screw it up because of the time limits and such, but I agree with everyone else about HP and some of the other book adaptations mentioned. Although HP is popular enough for everyone to know what happens anyway, they probably shouldn't've counted on that as much as they did.
Personally, I adored Ella Enchanted as long as I though of the movie not so much being adapted from the book so much as a stand-alone. I mean, I love them both equally, but to compare the two is unfair to the movie, like it is to many movies (exept HP3, it deserves all the complaints).
Anyway, I don't know about any of you, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing what they do with A Series of Unfortunet Events. Maybe it might even pursuade to read the series. sweatdrop

[einnob]

Zamzummin

I was severely disappointed with Harry Potter III's movie adaption >.< Everything was out of whack.

they had a new director. maybe thats why.

but i totally agree with you.

[GriffonsRum]

Zamzummin

I was severely disappointed with Harry Potter III's movie adaption >.< Everything was out of whack.

One of the real problems with the third movie in the HP series is the size of the real novel. You see, the first two Harry Potter books were relatively short novels, so they were able to be translated to two hour movies relatively well. But look at Prisoner of Azkaban (the novel)... it's much larger than the first too (so are books four and five)... But the movie producers didn't think the people who were watching the movies would go to a much longer movie... and thus Prisoner of Azkaban (the movie) looks like it was made from a "Reader's Digest" version of the book... very choppy and disjointed (and dissapointing... I liked the first two movies).... I can only imagine that if they don't make the movies longer for the next two, they will be equally dissapointing.

As for the LOTR... I've been a fan of that trilogy since I was 13, long before any ideas of any movie made from the books was imagined. I lived through the first animated attempt, and I was dreading this one by Peter Jackson... But I was very pleasantly shocked with how well they were. Yes, they did make some changes, but they (for the most part) were not bad changes (and I'm referring to the real versions of the movie that were seen in the extended DVDs, not the chopped up versions they showed in the movie theaters)... surprised )

But on the whole... the books are always better than the movie... and that's because our imaginations have no budget for the special effects we can create in there ~grin~