Favorite Books Destroyed by the Movie

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  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Any movie based on a Stephen King novel...

    I agree with 2 exceptions. The Kubrick version of The Shining (with Jack Nicholson) and the miniseries version of The Stand. The rest were pretty terrible. To be fair, though, his books are really not good to be made into movies, too many controversial things that can't really be filmed. :laugh:
  • SDkitty
    SDkitty Posts: 446 Member
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    When I was younger I read alot of Stephen King...Most of the movie adaptations were TERRIBLE. 2 exceptions: Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me (ironically both from the same book of 4 short stories).

    I will agree with you on those two, although you have to admit those are not typical Stephen King stories.
  • lazyspice
    lazyspice Posts: 8,515 Member
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    Clan of the Cave Bear - I love the book but the film was dire :grumble:
  • SDkitty
    SDkitty Posts: 446 Member
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    Whoever said Eragon, that was by far the worst film adaption I have ever seen. I'll never understand why, when script writers have a best selling story to begin with, why they feel the need to change half the story. Stupid.
  • jenbit
    jenbit Posts: 4,289 Member
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    Oh heres another one that was a TV miniseries
    Sparrowhawk
    Oh and the origanal DUNE movie I love the books and Im conviced the authors are still sick
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    What about Comic Books? Now granted those can be a little more dynamic because even within one company they might have different variations of different characters and stuff.

    I'm a big Batman fan and the original movie with Michael Keaton was disgusting I thought but really all of them except Chris Nolan's Batman were bad.

    I am really interested to see how they do the new Spider Man. It seems like it'll be taken from the Ultimate Universe.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    OMG...so much negativity!

    :P
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    i loved the hunger games. i hope the movie coming out is going to be good.
  • Naytahlee
    Naytahlee Posts: 53 Member
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    Most Stephen King movies are shameful representations of the books. The ones I thought were awesome were Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me and The Green Mile (although it leaves some things out they still did a great job), and of course the original version of The Shining, again a little different the book but what an awesome movie.

    The Notebook by Nickolaus Sparks I actually liked the movie better than the book.
  • fridayjustleft04
    fridayjustleft04 Posts: 851 Member
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    My Sister's Keeper, just because of the ending; the rest was good. (Side note, they're turning another Jodi Picoult novel into a movie and this one follows the book..I just can't remember which book.) Also, I didn't like the movie version of Harlan Coben's Tell No One. However, I liked the movie versions of Precious and The Blind Side better than the books.
  • kapeluza
    kapeluza Posts: 3,434 Member
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    Harry Potter >___>

    They left too much out.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    The soundtrack thread got me thinking about this. Inevitably a movie comes out about our favorite book or a book we really enjoyed reading. Some movies are pretty good and some are just awful in relation to the book. I'll start,

    Decent translation:
    1. Da'Vinci Code: The movie was actually pretty well done, pretty happy overall
    2. Hunt for Red October: Decent transition to film

    Awful
    1. Jurassic Park: almost completely different, even the sequel
    2. Star Wars Prequels (all 3): The books were really good and gave great insight into the characters, the movies...

    Your turn...

    Interesting -- I thought Jurassic Park (first) was an excellent example of how to turn a book into a movie--by not trying to slavishly recreate the book.

    I thought Spielberg kept the essence of the book intact, but then stepped back and said: "OK, now let's make sure we make a good movie".

    To me the result was that I can enjoy the movie for what it is, and I can enjoy the book for the separate, more detailed experience IT is, and neither one interferes with my enjoyment of the other.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    Harry Potter >___>

    They left too much out.

    I wish they had done the Harry Potter movies the way that Peter Jackson did the LOTR trilogy--put out a theatrical version for the general public and then an extended 4+ hr version for the DVD.

    Otherwise, I agree with your assessment in principle--although, I'm not sure how much they could have put back in w/o them seeming even more choppy than they are.
  • california_peach
    california_peach Posts: 1,858 Member
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    Clan of the Cave Bear - I love the book but the film was dire :grumble:

    ^^^^This!! Great book, really, really bad movie
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
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    I actually thought the Da Vinci Code movie was terrible. Tom Hanks was not convincing at all, the whole movie I just felt like I was watching Tom Hanks run around Europe. I also didn't like how much they cut, and how they made it obvious. My favorite part of the book was when they went to the library at King's College. In the movie they steal some dude's cell phone on the bus to conduct the archive search....right....and he said outright, "We don't have time to go to the library!"

    EDIT: Also, the movie was very confusing to people who hadn't read the book. You had to have read it to know what was going on at all.
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
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    Hannibal...the movie completely veered off course. I was so looking forward to seeing Clarice eat brains, dye her hair blond, and run off with Lecter...
  • bmqbonnie
    bmqbonnie Posts: 836 Member
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    ^ditto on Hannibal!

    The Black Dahlia. The book was decent, movie was bad. Movie took out all the good parts of the book.
  • sexforjaffacakes
    sexforjaffacakes Posts: 1,001 Member
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    Harry Potter! Not only do they leave out really important/interesting bits of the books, but they add random crap in that doesn't *kitten* anything to the story.

    Also all the child actors are terrible.

    OH and the movie of roald dahl's witches saddens me ):
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
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    The movie 'The Help' is pretty good...I still liked the book a lot better - deeper character development, etc....but the movie surprised me...I usually don't like the movies if I've read the book...

    This! Everyone seems to love it, but I as disappointed in a few different things - 1. They missed the perfect opportunity to "teach" about domestic violence and how it escalates. 2. The ending was all wrong - in the book, she may have been fired, but she was looking forward to her new path in life (being a writer!). 3. A lot of the background meaning as to WHY the maids didn't want to talk was left out. 4. And, for gods sake, why did they leave out the part where she beats the crap out of the crazy person?!? (I sooo wanted to see Nick Nolte play that part! LOL!)
  • StrengthIsBeautiful
    StrengthIsBeautiful Posts: 309 Member
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    Biggest disappointment ever- Bonfire of the Vanities. Just ridiculous. Excellent book. Stupid silly movie.

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