My two favorite have got to be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and To Kill A Mockingbird. Two that I would love see made are Flowers for Algernon and The Catcher in the Rye. The latter will probably never happen being that J.D. Salinger was adament about not having any of his works made into motion pictures. Any favorites? Ones you hated? Suggestions for future ones?
We love because He first loved us.
- 1 John 4:19
GOOD
Winter's Bone
Bridge to Terabithia
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Up in the Air
The Secret in Their Eyes
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Harry Potter
The Social Network (my pick for Best Picture of 2010)
A Single Man
The Town
HAD MOMENTS
Twilight
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Golden Compass (come on, people, this wasn't a complete train wreck)
Flipped (the IMDb rating is far too high)
The Da Vinci Code
He's Just Not That Into You (I actually kind of liked this film, as it was better than Valentine's Day)
MEDIOCRE
Morning Glory (Rachel McAdams was the only saving grace)
Because of Winn-Dixie
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
BAD
Angels and Demons
Eragon (how has nobody mentioned this?)
I Am Number Four
The Last Song (it took the surprisingly well-written novel and slashed it to pieces)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
SUGGESTIONS
The Hunger Games
Chasing Vermeer
Ruby Holler
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Stargirl (how has this not been adapted yet?)
After
To Kill a Mockingbird (remake, the original was grossly overrated)
ALL RIGHT
Twilight
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Golden Compass
Flipped
The Da Vinci Code
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
The Twilight Saga is not for everyone (and people know this very well) so I'm not sure why they're constantly bitched about on EW (among other places). I loved The Tale of Despereaux the book. I haven't seen the film, so I may have to check it out for myself. I actually really enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
As for Flipped, I sort of liked it. The main problem with the film (for me) is that it didn't really expand too much on its ideas or bring in new ones outside the book. It was enjoyable, but really basic. The setting made it feel really old-fashioned and cliched. The two young lead actors were by far the best things about it.
I thought the Da Vinci Code was one of the worst-- they slaughtered the book and changed too many things.
And while the Tale of Despereaux wasn't as good as the book, it wasn't horrible. I'd say is was passible; I didn't like Matthew Brodrick's voice, I thought he was miscast.
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My favorite book to film adaptation is The Lord of the Rings (although Jackson took a few liberties)
Don't let hard times make you a hard person
another great one is Shawshank Redemption.
Yes, Shawshank was great. I think it was better than the book.
Shawshank was better than the book, I agree. Misery and it's movie adaptation were both great, on the other hand. Same for The Green Mile.
The Running Man was so different from the book you can hardly call it the same story, so taken separately, they were both pretty good. But the book was way better.
I also gree with the poster upthread who said "What Dreams May Come" was an amazing book that was adapted into a mediocre movie. There are some beautiful visuals in it though.
I haven't read Winter's Bone yet, but the movie was excellent and from what I've heard very faithfully adapted.
This is such a good thread, it keeps reminding me of books I need to read.
I so agree about What Dreams May Come, the film was dreadful. Miscast and misdirected. Same for The Lovely Bones in my opinion.
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Shawshank Redemption is an incredible film and yes even better than the story. The Green Mile is also equally as wonderful as the book. Girl Interrupted is also better than the book.
I recently saw Never Let Me Go and I thought the movie was more entertaining than the book, mainly because I hated the writing style.
-Di
Good Adaptations:
Pride and Prejudice(the Keira Knightley one)
Shutter Island
The Notebook
A Walk to Remember
I Know What You Did Last Summer(more affecting than the book)
Dear John
The Lovely Bones
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Bad Adaptations:
The Last Song(liked the movie, just not a good adaptation alotta good parts left out)
Charlie St. Cloud
Beastly(COMPLETELY ruined the ending)
"You're forgetting one thing about Billy Loomis...I *beep* killed him!"--Scream 2
Best: Fight Club , Like the book Love the movie
2nd runner up: No Country for Old men.
Worst: Needful Things.
-Oh and by the way Adam Sandler is not Funny -
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Good Adaptations:
The Last of the Mohicans (IMO, this is one of the few where the movie is way better than the book)
Stand By Me
The Ring (the Japanese version; the American version isn't bad but the original is scarier, even with subtitles)
Frankenstein (the one directed by Kenneth Branagh)
The Notebook
The Bourne trilogy
Ghost Story
The Shining/Pet Semetary/The Dead Zone/Firestarter/The Running Man/The Shawshank Redemption
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Harry Potter series
Bad Adaptations:
The Last Song
Dear John
Queen of the Damned (not unwatchable, but could have been better)
Dracula (the one with Winona Rider)
Interview with a Vampire (also not unwatchable, but should have been soooo much better, given the awesome source material)
The Chronicles of Narnia series
Twilight (although IMO, I'm not sure this even belongs here because I think the books are crap, and with crap as source material, the movies have no hope but to be crap)
I Am Number Four (although IMO, this is like Twilight in that the source material isn't very good and doesn't give the movie much of a chance at not sucking)
a series of unfortunate events. it was terrible, i was obsessed with the books when i was younger, but the movie made me want to cry because it was so awful.
also, i hated the rendition of speak. it did not connect with me at all (tv movie, too. wtf?)
hopefully water for elephants will be equally amazing as the story!
the glass is not half full nor half empty...but it is filled with something.
"Cocktail", as cheesy 80s as it is, was way better than the book.
In the novel, the Cruise character is a cynical jerk who marries in the end only for the money. The Coughlin character dies at the beginning as well!
I agree, the Lemony Snickett movie was dreadful and killed that franchise. You know they had planned to make a bunch of those.
The Prestige differed quite a bit from the book, but it was still excellent.
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Best = Shawshank Redemption
Worst = No Country
Battle royale
The girl with the dragon tattoo trilogy
The lord of the rings trilogy
Harry Potter serie
Jurassic park
The ring
Minority report
The green mile
The Da Vinci code
Angels and demons
The green mile
The shawshank redemption
The mist
Jaws
Fight club
The road
Shutter island
One flew over the Cuckoo's nest
Forrest Gump
The curious case of Benjamin Button
The Godfather
Silence of the Lambs
The shining
American Psycho
The notebook
Pride and prejudice
The war of the worlds
James bonds
A clockwork orange
Lord of the flies
Charlie and the Chocolat factory
Watership down
Kick-ass (Comic-book but still awesome)
Sin city (Comic book)
And let's not forget all the Disney classic fairytales. (Snowwhite, Beauty and the beast, Cinderella, Sleeping beauty, The hunchback of Notre Dame, Little mermaid, Jungle book, Alice in Wonderland, ...)
These books/films are not always as good as each other of faithfull, but they sure are great as both mediums.
I just didn't want to be a loser anymore.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Princess Bride. It's a great adaptation. Others that I love:
Lord of the Rings
Shawshank
Stand By Me
One Flew over the cuckoo's nest
The Bourne Trilogy (a lot was changed but I found the movies better)
Harry Potter
Hate:
Any Dr Seuss book made into a movie other than the original Grinch. Cat in the Hat with Mike Myers and Grinch with Jim Carey were awful.
Good call on the original Grinch!! A Christmas Carol also generated several really good adaptations - I especially like the one starring George C. Scott and the one starring Patrick Stewart (I know they were made-for-tv, but I think they count).
shareI think Matt Damon could make an adequate Atticus Finch
shareBest: LOTR. I've never read the books, but the Movies are, without a doubt, the BEST EPIC movie I've EVER SEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugo- This is an AMAZING movie, and one of the most magical movie going experiences I've ever had. I just ADORED this movie!1
Worst:
City of Ember. Didn't see this movie. Then your DAMN LUCKY!!!!!!!! Talk about worthless slaughtering of an excelent book
The Lighting Thief: OK, so this movie wasn't THAT bad. But, coming from the perspective of someone who loved the books, there's a LOT they could have done differently.
IDK why everyone's hating on Time Traveler's Wife. I loved that movie, or maybe I just loved Rachel McAdams' beauty
I love Rachel McAdam's, too, but even I didn't like her in the Time Traveler's Wife. I thought she had no chemistry with Eric Bana, but that might be because I'm really not a fan of his.
Didn't like the changes they made for the film, either.
Didn't like Inkheart, either.
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