Books & Music The book vs The movie

#46
frick&frack said:
I also prefer to read the book AFTER I've seen the movie...it feels much less disappointing as I generally forget the movie while I'm reading. in reverse, I compare the movie to the book the entire time I'm watching.

I love the LOTR movies, but there were definitely differences from the books. I love the BBC version of pride & prejudice (my favorite book of all time); it's very accurate to the book. however, I also love the kiera knightly version. I really enjoyed the new/modern interpretation, & there were some BEAUTIFUL moments in the movie that were not in the book (this is rare for me). I loved emma thompson's sense & sensibility, but I was disappointed that she removed the entire climax of the book (when she & willoughby talk) from the screenplay. but again, there are beautiful moments in the movie. I think gwenyth paltrow's emma is also an enjoyable movie although it too differs a bit from the book.

I wasn't disappointed with any of the EM Forrester books/movies: a room with a view, where angels fear to tread, a passage to india, howard's end. I think miramax does a wonderful job of adaptation.

like nillacobain, I also LOVE zefirelli's romeo & juliet from 1968. it's a gorgeous & faithful adaptation of shakespeare's play. I enjoy all of kenneth branagh's shakespeare adaptation movies as well: much ado about nothing, henry v, othello, hamlet, love's labour's lost (I loved that he turned it into a musical & incorporated modern songs), & as you like it.

although I didn't read the book, I absolutely LOVE the movie cold comfort farm too!!!
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I enjoyed this movie so much! I first watched it in 9th grade. We had just finished reading the play, and my teacher (awesome English teacher!) showed the movie afterward.

A book that I want to read is Breakfast at Tiffany's. From what I heard, the movie is a bit different from the story that Truman Capote wrote, but I still want to read it .

I remember reading The Pelican Brief in HS after watching the movie. I preferred the movie.
 
#47
I feel the same. Henry was edgy in the book. The movie made him seem like a lamb. Blech!

swhit9290 said:
The Time Traveler's Wife is absolutely my FAVORITE book, but the movie... ohhh my. I know it's hard to depict the entire book in a movie but I felt like so many parts got left out that really contributed to the story and the characters. AND, in the movie Henry does still give Claire his mother's ring, but in the book it is an antique emerald (I think?) and in the movie it is a typical diamond. For me the emerald ring fits their characters better :smile: A tiny difference but it always stands out to me!

If I hadn't read the book I would still love the movie. And I don't hate the movie either, but knowing the story before hand makes the movie painful to watch sometimes because it just isn't consistent.
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#48
I really enjoyed Brokeback mountain the movie (hey it was Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) and I do like Ang Lee's works so it was an excellent adaptation from the short story. However, I felt the short story did a bit better job at focusing on their emotions for each other than in the movie.

I read all the Stephen King books before watching the movies like It, Carrie, The Stand, The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Stand By Me (The Body), and Misery and enjoyed the movies equally but separately from the books.

I find that most of the time I either enjoy the movies just as much as the books or I enjoyed the books a bit more but so far I haven't read a book I hated and enjoyed the related movie.
 
#50
I saw Let The Right One In (the Swedish version) before I read the book; I really liked the movie and was surprised to find so much more detail in the novel, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the film. I am scared to see what American film makers have done with it!
 
#51
Lindsay2367 said:
I liked the book "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult, but I HATED the movie. I thought the movie was fine until the end. I really, really dislike when the movie changes things about the book that makes the book unique (like the ending in "My Sister's Keeper). The movie made it into just any old story that you might see on a Sunday afternoon Lifetime Channel movie. Grrrr.
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My Sister's Keeper was the best book ever. I bought copies for everyone I knew who I knew would enjoy a good read. The movie was like your said, any old story. We expect the happy ending, but I woudl have preferred the book ending, you never saw it coming.
 
#52
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE translates exceptionally well into a movie that I love.
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My favorite book to movie film! I did see the movie (a million times)first but I loved the book too.

The worst movie for me was Memoirs of a Geisha. I am surprised others like the movie better than the book. The movie didn't even come close to the book for me.

I also hated how much they left out and changed from Where the Heart Is. So many important things from the book were left out of the movie.
 
#54
I just read that THE HELP is being made into a movie starring Emma Stone as Skeeter. Hmmm, not exactly who I pictured in that role (I can't help seeing Lindsay Lohan every time I see her!). Viola Davis is playing Aibileen -- now that I think is very good casting!

The movie also stars Octavia Spencer (as Minny), Ahna O'Reilly, Anna Camp and Bryce Dallas Howard - the author (Kathryn Stockett) has a cameo in the movie!

I loved this book so much, I hope the movie is good. I do think it's the perfect story to be turned into a movie. And I can appreciate the casting of relatively unknown actors rather than big name draws -- sometimes I think that's a better idea, and with a story as powerful as this one was, I think big name stars would have overshadowed the story and it would have been all about the star power versus the power of the story telling
 
#55
fandora said:
Wonder Boys is one of the rare examples where movie is def better than book. Book is written by Michael Chabon and its plot at some point doesn't make any sense. In movie they just skipped all unnecessary parts and decided to stick with one main story.
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The format of a movie is by its nature so much more brief and action oreinted, so I think the best adaptations do exactly what you said there.


IMO, books MUST be changed in order to make good movies. Even/ esp good books. Imagine your favorite book, then imagine a movie of it with absolutely EVERYTHING included in the same fashion. In 99% of cases that would make one huge, bloated, overly long movie that plodded on with long periods of not much happening (because there are very few fiction writers who write strictly in-scene, like a screenplay). And thats assuming that there was any sort of a way to actually include the sheer amounts of internal dialogue that goes on inside characters' heads in most books.
 
#57
I HAVE to read a book before seeing a movie. If I know what's going to happen in a book, I feel no desire to finish it. However, if I know the end of the movie, it's ok with me. I think because less time is needed to watch a movie. But books obviously take up alot more of my time to complete. I don't want waste my time reading something for days if I already know how it's going to end.
 
#58
madamefifi said:
I saw Let The Right One In (the Swedish version) before I read the book; I really liked the movie and was surprised to find so much more detail in the novel, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the film. I am scared to see what American film makers have done with it!
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I know, I don't even want to watch the american version.

I usually read the book first and if I really love the book I don't watch the movie. I hate when they ruin my favorite books.
 
#59
I have read some books before they were adapted to movies and vice versa and I much prefer to not have read the books. In most cases though, I can totally ignore the book version while watching the movie.
I watched the first Twilight movie before I read the book and did not quite get all the jokes that everyone was giggling to but after reading the book, I watched it again and quite enjoyed it, horrible acting and all! :biggrin:
 
#60
I just remembered Little Children by Tom Perrota. I think I liked both the book and the movie equally. I'd first read the book (before I knew it was a movie, though the cover with Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson on it clued me in that it had been made a movie), then I saw the movie about a year or so afterward. The movie focused on the main characters whereas the book had sections on a number of the characters, both main and peripheral.

I didn't mind that some of it had been shaved off for the movie.
 
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