Films that do/don't live up to the Book or Screenplay

Merkin · 14-06-2013 09:53AM #1

I'm always invariably disappointed by a film adaptation of a book as I find one's own imagination to be better. Not entirely sure why, I just think it's probably impossible to capture all the nuances and subtleties that you'll find in literature.

In my experience there are a few films which have done a really good job at portraying the book and what it stands for. Atonement by Ian McEwan is an amazing story and I think the film was pretty outstanding too, particularly the vile character played by a young Saoirse Ronan.

Ken Kesey' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is another amazing book and film (who doesn't love Jack?) and Bernhard Schlink's The Reader was very sympathetically portrayed in the film with Kate Winslet (even though the sight of her face makes me want to smack her across the chops).

What films have you seen that have done a great book justice?

FatherLen · 14-06-2013 09:55AM

lotr

JonSnuuu · 14-06-2013 09:56AM

Not a film, but I think Game of Thrones is a great adaptation of the books!

force eleven · 14-06-2013 09:58AM

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - more so the English version.

Sergeant · 14-06-2013 09:59AM

The film adaptation of No Country for Old Men manages to capture the pace and sense of menace in the book.

14-06-2013 09:59AM

DUNE

--Kaiser-- · 14-06-2013 10:00AM

Film adaptations almost never live up to the book.
One notable exception is Fight Club. Good book, great movie

Das Kitty · 14-06-2013 10:04AM

Blade Runner is better than the source material, IMO.

Then again all they really keep from the book is the world it's set in, so I'm not sure that counts.

Agree on Fight Club. (I read Fight Club on a plane, fun!)

Daith · 14-06-2013 10:09AM

LA Confidential.

There's a lot of plot lines in the book but the films managed to focus just on the three main characters and it still delivers. It evoked the noir of LA perfectly and Spacey, Pearce and Crowe were fantastic.

Witness Black Dahila for how not to do an adapation.

Festy · 14-06-2013 10:11AM

American Psycho

Though it's one of my favourite films I have to say movie is tame compared to the book.

osarusan · 14-06-2013 10:13AM

Hate to compare them as the medium is so different, and interacts so differently with the reader/viewer. But Never Let Me Go stood out as a crap film made of a good book (although admittedly difficult to make a visual thing).

SEPT 23 1989 · 14-06-2013 10:15AM

Congo

great book joke of a film

desertcircus · 14-06-2013 10:18AM

As an adaptation (and as a film), Wanted is a near-perfect failure. The graphic novel is sardonic, vicious, savagely unpleasant, hilarious and completely black-hearted, and the film is an utterly pointless action romp.

I Am Legend deserves a special mention, for getting so much right and falling at the last hurdle.

Hande hoche! · 14-06-2013 10:18AM

I am legend comes to mind.

conorhal · 14-06-2013 10:18AM

Jaws is a dreadful, pulpy, stupid novel, Spielberg's movie however is a masterpiece, he actually has pretty good form for this, his criminally underrated adaption of J.G. Ballard's 'Empire of the Sun' manages to capture the tone and content of the novel perfectly.

Liev Schrieber's adaption of 'Everything is Illuminated' takes an unfilmable book and choses to strip it down to it's most potent narrative with a great degree of success that makes it a perfect companion to a really great book.

Recently I was pretty underwhelmed by 'Life of Pi' and 'The Hobbit'

syklops · 14-06-2013 10:19AM

I think it might be easier/quicker to just come up with the movies that surpassed the book. The movies which didn't live up to the book are going to be too many to count.

While many of the Harry Potters are worthy of the award The Deathly Hallows Part One: The one in the tent and Part Two: The one not in the tent, were very disappointing for me, as it was the book I enjoyed the most of the series.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo(English version). If you've read the book and seen the original you will know that some artistic license was used and IMO there was no need for it. While it was good, and Daniel Craig was very good as Kalle Blomkvist, the Swedish version remained truer to the original work, IMO.

Captain Coreeli's Mandolin was an excellent book, one of my favourites, but the move was terrible. The book is written in a similar style to Intermission, or love actually, where you have a number of short-ish stories which all come together, but the movie ignored that and focussed on Captain Corelli and the daughter.

In terms of movies which did surpass the book, The Green Mile would be one for me. I saw and loved the movie and then went out and got the book and for me it lacked the impact that the movie had. Maybe if I had seen them the other way around it would have been different.

Boo2112 · 14-06-2013 10:19AM

The Harry Potter series would have been the first book I read to see adapted. I remember being so disappointed that I think I've only seen three of the films, gave up after that.

Watched dear John recently and the movie changed the ending and absolutely ruined it for me.

Nobody is ever going to picture the exact same thing as everyone else when they read a book though, which is pretty cool, and I think that imagination is a million times better than a film.

YbFocus · 14-06-2013 10:20AM

Jarhead - The film was a disgrace.

Daith · 14-06-2013 10:21AM

Oh and of course The Godfather. Pulpy novel (though not a bad book) to great film.

Outkast_IRE · 14-06-2013 10:21AM

Jurrasic Park 2 The lost world.

Found the book excellent and the film poor enough , in comparison to the first movie/book.

Captain Farrell · 14-06-2013 10:22AM

Twilight.

The books are shít, and so are the films. The perfect adaptations, you could say....

syklops · 14-06-2013 10:23AM

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Jurrasic Park 2 The lost world.

Found the book excellent and the film poor enough , in comparison to the first movie/book.

Im the other way around, I found the book poor(annoying children!) and the movie great. Goes to show we are all different.

The Backwards Man · 14-06-2013 10:23AM

Watership Down, even though it's an animation, captures the emotion of the book excellently

D-FENS · 14-06-2013 10:28AM

The Lawnmower Man movie was, well, watchable, when I was about 15 anyway.
But when I read the original story, I really wish they’d been more faithful to it, would have been interesting viewing to say the least
Pure lunacy, how on earth they got that film from that story is beyond me…

"The Lawnmower Man" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the May 1975 issue of Cavalier, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.
Plot summary

It's summer and Harold Parkette is in need of a new lawnmower and boy to help. The summer before, a neighbor's cat was accidentally killed when another neighbor's dog chased the feline under the mower. Harold has been putting off hiring new help for the summer, but when he sees an ad for a mowing service he calls. A van reading "Pastoral Greenery" soon pulls up to Parkette's home. The man working for the service is shown the overgrown back lawn and is hired. Harold is enjoying a rest as he reads the paper, when he hears the lawnmower outside. Startled, he races to the back porch and sees the lawnmower running by itself and the naked lawnmower man following it and eating the grass. Harold faints.
When Harold revives, the lawnmower man explains that his behavior grants substantial benefits, and that he makes sacrificial victims of customers who can't appreciate the process. Parkette, though unnerved, allows the lawnmower man to return to work. As soon as the man is out of sight, Harold desperately calls the police, but is interrupted by the lawnmower man. The lawnmower man briefly chases Harold with the lawnmower before brutally slaughtering him.
When the police arrive, they conclude that Parkette was murdered by a schizophrenic sex maniac. As they leave, the scent of freshly cut grass hangs strongly in the air.

Duckworth_Luas · 14-06-2013 10:28AM

Calendar Girls. Terrible film, terrible calendar, both have aged badly!

elefant · 14-06-2013 10:30AM

Boo2112 wrote: »

The Harry Potter series would have been the first book I read to see adapted. I remember being so disappointed that I think I've only seen three of the films, gave up after that.

Agree. I thought the films were muck. Stopped bothering with them after the 4th one.

gramar · 14-06-2013 10:31AM

Roddy Doyle's - The Van. I was very let down by the film.
The Godfather on the other hand is a great screen adaption of the book.

ibarelycare · 14-06-2013 10:32AM

The title of this thread is confusing! Pick one or the other OP!!!

The Shawshank Redemption is an amazing adaptation of Stephen King's novella. Stand By Me (from the same collection of novellas) is also a brilliant movie that lives up to the story. So many adaptations of his stories are awful. (I'm waiting for someone to mention The Shining as a good movie...personally I hated Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the story).

I have to say Trainspotting too. Movie was better than the book IMO.

Frank Black · 14-06-2013 10:32AM

In terms of movies which were better than the source novel, Jaws was the first one that popped into my head.
You could argue that Kubrick improved both Clockwork Orange and The Shining, though I really like both books as well.
The Shawshank Redemption always seems to poll well whenever a Best Movies list is compiled - personally I don't have much time for the film and prefer the book.

Talib Fiasco · 14-06-2013 10:33AM

Fight Club definitely stands out. One of my favourite books and my favourite movie.

The Hunger Games is a good read too and I liked the movie alot as well.

ibarelycare · 14-06-2013 10:33AM

ibarelycare wrote: »

(I'm waiting for someone to mention The Shining as a good movie...personally I hated Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the story).

Frank Black wrote: »

In terms of movies which were better than the source novel, Jaws was the first one that popped into my head.
You could argue that Kubrick improved both Clockwork Orange and The Shining, though I really like both books as well.
The Shawshank Redemption always seems to poll well whenever a Best Movies list is compiled - personally I don't have much time for the film and prefer the book.

Well look at that, only had to wait a few seconds

Films that do/don't live up to the Book or Screenplay

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