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Movies I liked better than the books they were based on

Landslide

Landslide

Well-Known Member
I don't know if this subject has been talked about before, but it's something I just realized. There is at least two movies I prefer over the books they were based in: The notebook and Chocolat. In both cases I saw the movies and then read the books, do you think it's related?
 
A couple:

Solaris by Stanislav Lem was good; Solyaris by Andrei Tarkovsky is fantastic. From poetic science to scientific poetry.

Big Fish; Daniel Wallace did the outline, Tim Burton filled it in with more colours than the original could even imagine.

Ringu; from Koji Suzuki's over-reaching and slightly preachy novel to Hideo Nakata's terrorfest.

The Exorcist. William Peter Blatty was a screenwriter, and it shows; his novel worked much better when someone put a camera, Max von Sydow and some pea soup on top of it.

The Maltese Falcon; not that Hammett didn't write a good novel, but everything is better with Bogart.

Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now; the singularly best adaptation of any work ever. Get rid of every single detail except for the name of the antagonist, change the setting, change the time, change the continent, change everything except the underlying theme. The horror.
 
I agree with Big Fish, the book wasn't bad but I didn't love it, I loved the movie.
 
Shawshank Redemption over Rita Hayworth
Stand by Me over The Body
White Oleander...

But I saw all of these before I read the books... that must have something to do with it. :rolleyes:
 
The Wizard of Oz. I loved all the Oz books as a child, but I think the movie is better than the book, probably because they didn't translate the book, but created a musical based on it.
 
The Princess Bride
Breakfast On Pluto
The General's Daughter
Howl's Moving Castle

I would add Little Women to the list, but I haven't finished reading the book quite yet.
 
Have to agree with all of those. Plus I'd add Hannibal - the ending in the book was utterly ridiculous and completely spoilt an otherwise excellent read. Ridley Scott wisely changed the ending in the film and it turned out much better.
 
Interview with the Vampire--got rid of the dull scenes in Eastern Europe and managed to be relatively faithful to the mood of the novel.

American Psycho--an annoying book turns into a twisted horror/comedy with some great performances.

I have mixed emotions about Hannibal. I prefer Ridley Scott's ending better than the one Harris came up with, but the rest of the movie wasn't all that great.
 
There's a comedian named Jim Gaffigan that has a bit to say on this subject.
"Oh yeah? You know what I liked best about the movie? No reading."

I really enjoy children's fantasy that's been turned into movies. Golden Compass is an excellent example. They're just so visually stimulating then.
 
saliotthomas said:
the bible:D
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LOL! :D

I do agree about children's fantasies - coupled with modern special effects they can look absolutely fantastic. That reminds me of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy - for all that I still love the books, I think Peter Jackson did an absolutely brilliant job of faithfully recreating them for the screen.
 
roddglenn said:
the Lord of the Rings Trilogy - for all that I still love the books, I think Peter Jackson did an absolutely brilliant job of faithfully recreating them for the screen.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more... they are great books, but the movies are truly magical.
 
I'm a big fan of Peter Jackson(brain dead!)but i just have a tiny reserve about the first of the trilogy-the moria part-a bit to much special effect.
I don't know if you remenber the first animation movie of the lord of the ring but i loved the moria in it,the orcs where perfect,not to much of them.I liked the caractere of aragorne to, very serious like,no long hair,.. Vigo is great but still..Anyway i think Jakson was very inspired by the animation
 
Yes, Jackson did certainly have the animation in mind when he created the first and second installments. I loved his Balrog - absolutely stunning.
 
I hope this doesn't uspet to many people, but I thnk that the Lord of the RIngs movies, are ten times better than the books. I have read them and did not like them but for some reason I find myself loving the movies.
 
The books are long and full of useless information. That's the problem with building an entire world, you need to leave the blueprints for people. The cartoon versions are amazing and have some of the greatest folk music from movies ever. I can't find my old tapes of them. I should buy the cds.
Lenord Nimoy singing "Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom," is something the books can never come close to accomplishing.
 
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