Comments (1-30) of 243 Add your comment
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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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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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Melanie
The Green Mile was a great adaptation.
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RvE
Oh yes! I saw the movie before reading the book, absolutely loved it, read the book and felt chills running down my spine when I read the paragraphs that describe the arrival of John Coffey. It was like they were describing Michael Clarke Duncan, even if John Coffey was even taller than MCD is in real life.
He was BRILLIANT in that role!
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RvE
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Em
Where the Wild Things Are obviously had to have a lot of plot added to it because the book was so short, and I personally think the screenwriters did a fantastic job adding just the right substance and details to make the movie a new classic. It’s odd and creative, just like the book.
Worst book-into-movie: The Secret Garden 1993 version
Best book-into-movie: Everything Is Illuminated-
Audrey
Have to disagree about “The Secret Garden” 1993 adaptation. As a kid I found it just as enchanting and emotional as the book, although in different ways. Although when you’re 8 you don’t realize just how bad the acting is…
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Maureen
OMG! The Secret Garden is my absolute FAVORITE book-to-movie adaptation!
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Audrey
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John Graham
What I like to see in people is a human independence.
Meaning:
I liked the book, but just because there is a movie now, does not mean I have necessity to go and see it.
I don’t really need to find out if the movie does it justice.
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Bubbatwo420
Worst book-movie adaption – Dead Koontz’s Watchers. I loved that book growing up but the movie was absolutely horrible.
Best book-movie translation: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Love me some Hunter S. Thompson but Johnny Depp made him seem real, that movie just flat out rocks.
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Kathy
Actually, there was a Watchers 2.. adn it went more to the book than that horrible first one.
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Gogo-t-w
I don’t think I could agree more about Fear and Loathing. I read it after hearing about the movie and I saw the movie later. I loved them both.
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Kathy
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Aaron
I was really happy with the way “The Namesake” tuned out; by turning some of the attention toward the parents and externalizing the book’s interior conflicts, it worked well but still felt like an adaptation. I was disappointed with “Atonement”; while I thought the first 45 minutes were great but then it lost focus and because there was so much going on stylistically, I didn’t feel the emotional punch from the ending like I did in the book.
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lala
The worst adaptation for me was Stephen King’s The Stand. The television movie was god awful!
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Rachel
Well, I think they did the best with what they had – a mid-nineties TV-miniseries budget. I would love to see that fabulous story up on the big screen now, though. So much could be done with that!
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Rachel
Oh, and can you imagine what a good team could do with seven Dark Tower movies? Sigh.
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Rachel
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Rachel
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Kevin Galgano
Forrest Gump, but in reverse- I loved the movie but couldn’t even finish the book, which is very odd for me as 99% of the time I prefer teh book over the movie- but not in the case of Gump.
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Annie
“Does the movie do justice to the spirit and tone of the original, if not the details? Does the movie have a…well, soul?”
This is exactly how I feel when I watch a movie based on a book. I am a huge movie buff and also one of those die-hard Harry Potter fans. My favorite adaptations aren’t the ones that took the material and regurgitated it on screen (the first two in the series), but made a great film out of it (the third one, in particular.)
I am looking for a great movie that I would like even if it wasn’t based on a book series I am crazy about.
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eej
The Green Mile was a great book-to-movie adaptation – perhaps even better than the book. The Time Traveler’s Wife was an awful adaptation. I wish I had skipped that movie – ruined the book.
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jules
I think HP’s Half Blood Prince was awful. I was so mad during the movie I almost go up and walked out. I kept seeing things that were not even in the book…(Harry in the diner at the beginning, the big Kiss that happened AFTER a Quidditch game win-not in the Room of Requirement).Sometimes the directors go too far for commercialism when they shouldn’t mess with a good thing.
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Amanda
Couldn’t disagree more! I loved it, and thought they did an excellent job getting across the spirit of the books. Only thing I was upset about was their not including the big battle at the end – what a climactic scene that would have been!
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Alyssa
I agree with you as well. The Half Blood Prince is my favorite Harry Potter book and Movie. I happen to think that the Harry Potter movies get better with every installment. Oh and I have no idea why people worship Cauron, the third movie almost puts me to sleep, along with number four. I liked the third book better than the movie. And well four, I just never liked the Goblet of Fire period. Except for the end… Potterphiles, you know what happens, those that dont go read. They have to switch things sometimes because the books are so darn complex that its literally impossible to translate everthing and every detail.
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Sam
Completely agreed – most disappointing part of the movie was the end – no battle? C’mon! That was like 25 pages of the book! They totally let the readers down by ommitting that part so they could find time to add things that didn’t even happen like the burrow being burned or that stupid kiss – where is the wedding going to take place now!!
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Alyssa
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JackBauerEnthusiast!
I completely disagree. HBP is my favorite. I saw it 6 times. I think if you compare it to the book then of course you’re going to hate it. But as a movie it was awesome. It does suck that they took so much out, but HBP is probably the hardest HP book to adapt because most of it takes place in flashbacks and like Alyssa said…the plotline is so freakin’ complex. But I think they did a wonderful job capturing the overall tone of the book. Book 6 is one of the funniest out of the series, but it also has a lot of darkness so I think most people forget how funny it and light it really is. It’s supposed to be the calm before the storm and it sets up deathly hallows. That’s what the HBP movie did. But I can’t wait to see what Spike Jonze did with Where the Wild Things Are.
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Sam
the dark parts were the best specifically the cave scenes – just like the book – phenomenal. The rest was for movie-goers…
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Sam
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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.
And also.. I though HBP was really great!
I was genuinely surprised because i felt it was one of the best in the entire series.
And also.. as for the ending, please, do note that with Deathly Hallows we get TWO MOVIES.
Which means tons of action and its probably going to be THE BEST movies in the entire series.
I for one am THRILLED with Warner Bros. decision. Its smart and it means a more faithful adaptation of what is, in my opinion, the best book in the entire HP series.
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Amanda
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Kristine
I thought Misery was a very good film adapation.
Will someone please adapt Harry Harrison’s Warriors of the Way? And get moving on Elizabeth Moon’s Deed of Paksenarrion? I think moviegoers would LOVE to see these on screen! (if you’re saying, who? what? read these books and you’ll see!)
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Peter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galazy, is one of the most incredibly entertaining books i’ve sat through and the movie was NOT dissapointing at all in my opinion. Others may feel differently however i believe the only thin missing from the movie was the incredibly ridiculous descriptive terms that only appear in the narrative of the book.
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Gogo-t-w
I read it after I saw the movie. And I’m kind of glad I did, just because I think I would’ve gotten incredibly confused trying to read it. It’s so great though.
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Gogo-t-w
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Anthony
I felt the same way about the Lord of the Rings. I read the book when I was 11, and the rich descriptions allowed my imagination to lead the way. The movie has replaced almost all of those mental images now, so that when I re-read passages in the book I picture Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, and forget my own initial impression of who those characters were. It seems that making a movie about a book can define the book in a way that is nearly impossible to shake. I had no idea what an orc looked like, and now I cannot remember how I used to imagine them, because they are so effectively represented in the movie trilogy.
I can imagine the sense of loss that someone would have if the memories jogged by a children’s book as impressive as Where the Wild Things Are were suddenly, inexorably erased by a visual manifestation of the book.-
Charles
Interesting points, Anthony. The Lord of the Rings trilogy are my favorite books, I read them 3 times. I was excited but concerned about the movies. But now the films, especially the extended editions, are also my favorite movies, we watch the set 6 or 7 times a year. They did replace my images of the book, but perhaps in a good way since the casting and effects were so excellent. I find they compliment each other perfectly.
But I suppose it’s similar to the debate when MTV and videos came around in the early 1980’s. In many cases you remembered the visuals of the video more than the song it was based on. Although many are forgettable now to both the ear AND the mind.
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Charles
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Sirah
Best: Holes-the screenplay was written by the author of the book, so he was very true to the original and changes were things he added because the visual medium gave him different tools.
Worst: Mrs Frisby & the Rats of NIMH/The Secret of NIMH. They changed the characters, the character of the story, and the whole lesson. Very very disappointing.-
Nerwen Aldarion
I agree, Holes was probably my favorite book when I was kid. The movie adaptation was wonderful. No disappointment for me which was a first!
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diyedas
I agree with the Mrs Frisby & the Rats of NIMH. The book was much better. The dumbest thing about the movie is that for some reason it had magic in it, What the heck?!!!
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diyedas
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Eric Henwood-Greer
See I love The Secret of NIMH for what it was. The movie is still very mature, even dark for a family film (Disney turned down the rights for this reason in the 70s) and it’s a gorgeous, emotional film.
The book is deeper, and I have mixed feelings about them adding magic but it did make visual sense (and I don’t think it’s meant to be literal). On its own terms I think it’s an awesome movie.
Speaking of animated family films from that era, The Last Unicorn is underated. Peter S Beagle’s 60s novel is amazing partly because of how it’s a fantasy story that manages to be ABOUT fantasy stories at the same time. Much of that was dropped, by necesity, for the movie yet the script, which he ddi himself, is still shockingly mature and keeps the books wonderful air of melancholy. To watch the film as an adult you have to get past the cheap animation production budget but as an adaptation it’s really a pretty perfect one (Peter Beagle also did the adaptation for the 1970s animated Lord of the Rings–the Bakshi film not the later animated ones–but I don’t think people think much of that)
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Nerwen Aldarion
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Jenell
Why make books into movies? I would love for my children to know the stories of Narnia and many others, but they should know it from the book, not the movies. The movies make it more conveinient and faster to get though the story in 2-3 hours, but the books are SO much better. I just don’t understand why these filmakers are butchering all these wonderful stories by trying to make them into movies.
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Michelle
I am a bit late in this conversation. Lots of great comments. I agree with Jenell. I don’t read near as much as I used to (thanks to all the forced reading in college), and am often disappointed when If ind out that all of these “blockbusters” are just books made into movies. I’d love to read the books, but even as an adult who “knows better”, it’s hard to find the time to read the books when the movies are just sitting there… I don’t know, it just makes me feel like screenwriters can’t just come up with their own storylines… As a society, we are essentially discouraging kids to read more, since almost all of the “good” books are available to watch on a tv… :-/
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Andrew Frost
I’m only 17, and so I’ve experienced a few movies turned into books, like Harry Potter, LOTR, and Narnia.
For me, if I enjoy / enjoyed a movie a lot, and I knew it was a book, it motivated me to read the book. I think I had already read all of Narnia when that movie came out, but I remember buying a paperback LOTR book set with the characters from the movie on the cover. Harry Potter 5 motivated me to finish the last 3 books of the HP series where I had stopped, and more recently I watched Fight Club and subsequently read the book.
In my opinion, kids not reading isn’t due to easy access to the same stories in movies. I don’t know exactly what keeps kids from reading. There seems to be a negative stigma about people who read, that they are weird losers or something.
Personally, movies and books are so different that they cannot replace each other. I don’t know if I’m just a weird teenager or what, but yeah.
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Andrew Frost
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Lisa Simpson
Without movie adaptations of books, we wouldn’t have such classic movies as “Gone with the Wind”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Rebecca”, “A Farewell to Arms”, the various adaptations of “Little Women”, “The Thin Man”, “Goodbye Mr. Chips”, “Wuthering Heights”, “The Maltese Falcon” …
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Michelle
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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?