Book Adaptations

[assydingo]

Classics/Favorites
The Princess Bride, Chronicles of Narnia TL, TW, and TW, A Little Princess, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Shining, IT, Bridge To Terabethia, Fight Club
Good/Liked
The League of Extrodinary Gentleman, I Am Legend, The Clique, All Harry Potters, Prince Caspian, 10 Things I Hate About You (beats shakespeare =P)
Bad
Stardust, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Dreamcatcher, The Secret Garden (not made bad, I just don't like it)
Worst/Crime Against Humanity
The Kite Runner, Twilight, Eragon

I know there is more bad adaptations but I can't think of them. I'm sure others can help there.

[Lepidopterous]

The Prestige, Body of Lies and 21 were pretty good.

[Marquoz]

The Jackal wasn't too bad, Hunt for Red October was excellent, Dragons of Autumn Twilight was a complete joke.

[J_UNTITLED]

For the negative column, the most recent one I'd put out there'd be "I Am Legend"... god, what a wasted, wasted opportunity to bring the actual short story to true cinematic life.

[assydingo]

Originally Posted by J_UNTITLED

For the negative column, the most recent one I'd put out there'd be "I Am Legend"... god, what a wasted, wasted opportunity to bring the actual short story to true cinematic life.

Did you see the alternate ending?

[J_UNTITLED]

Originally Posted by assydingo

Did you see the alternate ending?

Yes - that by itself (as I didn't think it was any better of an ending than the theatrical) or within the context of the entire movie made it no better.

[assydingo]

Originally Posted by J_UNTITLED

Yes - that by itself (as I didn't think it was any better of an ending than the theatrical) or within the context of the entire movie made it no better.

Well I haven't read the book so I can't compare the two. I can say the acting was superb the plot was intriguing.

[J_UNTITLED]

Originally Posted by assydingo

Well I haven't read the book so I can't compare the two. I can say the acting was superb the plot was intriguing.

Will Smith's overall performance is the only saving grace of the entire film for me as it is otherwise a mediocre, bad CGI-filled and overloaded frustration.


I strongly recommend you take a look at the original short story by Richard Matheson as it is so, so much better.

[assydingo]

Originally Posted by J_UNTITLED

Will Smith's overall performance is the only saving grace of the entire film for me as it is otherwise a mediocre, bad CGI-filled and overloaded frustration.


I strongly recommend you take a look at the original short story by Richard Matheson as it is so, so much better.

I'm requesting it at my library now.

Ya the CGI wasn't great.

I wonder how many short stories are adapted well. It seems like it'd be difficult because you'd need to add content to make it a full movie.

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by assydingo

I'm requesting it at my library now.

Ya the CGI wasn't great.

I wonder how many short stories are adapted well. It seems like it'd be difficult because you'd need to add content to make it a full movie.

The Shawshank Redemption worked perfectly as an adaptation, as did Stand By Me.

[fsavoie]

Good :

LotR, Jurassic Park, K-Pax

Bad :

- Every Micheal Crishton (not counting Jurassic Park) like Sphere, timeline, Jurassic Park 2
- Hannibal
- Every Dean Koontz (except phantom)

[Blu Man]

Harry Potter should be in the worst and crime against humanity section.

[assydingo]

Originally Posted by Spartan54

Harry Potter should be in the worst and crime against humanity section.

Which HP?

I'd say Narnia is better all around but HP movies are still fantastic. I love how well the world of the book is brought to life.

[Brandon]

I think the best film adaptations of books that I have seen are No Country For Old Men and The Grapes of Wrath (Henry Fonda).

No Country the movie really captured the feel of the book accurately and the casting was perfect.

[kpkelley]

I don't think that Hitchhiker's Guide should be in the bad list as that was a book that was so dense with humor and all else that it would be nearly impossible to be entirely accurate. I felt that it captured the wit and heart of the book.

One that should be added to the Good adaptation list is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. It's another book that is very difficult to adapt, but Tikwer did a very good job with it.

Eragon should be on the bad side as it broke every rule of adapting books: combining locations, combining characters, skipping huge sections of the book, etc.

As for the Harry Potter movies I'd say the first three were the most faithful. The fourth one screwed the pooch within thirty seconds of the opening titles. And the fifth one made some very questionable changes. The first is my favorite adaptation as it kept the Dumbledore speech at the end of the movie, a staple of each of the first books.

[P@t_Mtl]

Those that I found to be some of the best adaptations done are :

The Princess Bride (almost better then the book at times)
Harry Potter (all of them but mostly the first 2 movies)
Lord Of The Rings (probably one of the best adaptation ever)
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Sean Conery, need I say more)
The Chronicles Of Narnia (both movies)

These 2 I found to be terrible compare to the books :

Eragon (was almost painful too watch)
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (let's hope Douglas Adams never saw it)

[Cinema Jaguar]

Originally Posted by fsavoie

Good :

LotR, Jurassic Park, K-Pax

Bad :

- Every Micheal Crishton (not counting Jurassic Park) like Sphere, timeline, Jurassic Park 2
- Hannibal
- Every Dean Koontz (except phantom)

Phantoms was good but it had or seemed to have a bit of lovecraft to it.