well, i haven't read of the books he wrote about but i'll say the Lord of the Rings trilogy was fairly faithfull w/the exception of Return of the King. there were quite a bit of odd ball things that were left out that i don't think would've translated well to the screen.
the Harry Potter series, w/a few minor exceptions again, has been a great move from page to screen.
Gone with the Wind
The Right Stuff
Jaws
To Kill a Mockingbird
Ben Hur
The Longest Day
Jurassic Park
The Harry Potter Films
I think all of the above were excellent adaptions of their respective novels
Sorry,
But I thought that Jurassic Park was very different from the book.
Some of the changes included:
The book includes several scenes with the Procompsognathus dinosaur. Many of these sequences and references to the dinosaur were dropped from the film adaptation, resulting in significant plot differences.
The book's opening chapter shows a young American girl vacationing at the shore with her family in Central America getting attacked by Procompsognathus while her parents are not looking. Instead, the film's opening showed the events that are alluded to by the bedridden patient in the book's prologue. This is because the film dropped the Procompsognathus dinosaur and also the entire subplot about dinosaurs escaping from the island; consequently the opening scene, the climax of the book in the Velociraptors' nest, and the scene with Velociraptors on the boat were all deemed useless. The sequence was later recycled as the opening of the film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, with a British family cruising to Isla Sorna instead of the mainland.
The first Iteration(Crichton titled the book's sections as "iterations") was omitted from the film, meaning all the characters from the Iteration never appeared, most notable Dr. Martin Guitierrez.
In the novel, Dr. Grant is described as having a love of children. In the film, he initially dislikes children.
In the novel, unspecified Hadrosaurs are running near Grant, Lex, and Tim, but in the film, they are replaced by Gallimimus. The Hadrosaur stampede, consisting of mostly Parasaurolophus and Corythosaurs, was later used in Jurassic Park III.
The characteristics of Lex and Tim were different in the film; in the novel, Tim is older and good with computers, although still interested in dinosaurs, while Lex is a young tomboy. In the movie, Lex is older and is very good with computers, while Tim is a huge Dinosaur fan.
Dr. Henry Wu and Dr. Gerry Harding both have major roles in the novel which were reduced to cameos in the film.
The entire sequence involving the pterosaur enclosure is dropped from the film. Like the Procompsognathusisis scenes, this was recycled for usage later in the film series (in Jurassic Park III).
Another sequence involving Dr. Grant and the children being chased by the Tyrannosaurus Rex down a river on an inflatable raft, was also dropped from the film, However, this river raft sequence became the inspiration for the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, a ride based on the film. This scene is also included in the video game adaptation for the Sega Genesis.
In the novel, the tour cars are Toyota Land Cruisers, but in the film they are Ford Explorers. In subsequent material outside the films, the cars are typically referred to as Land Cruisers regardless of their make.
In the novel, Dr. Ellie Sattler disembarks from the tour to tend to a sick Stegosaurus. In the film, a sick Triceratops was used instead.
The name of the character John Arnold was changed to "Ray Arnold" in the film.
In the novel, John Arnold was able to revive the power systems in Jurassic Park by finding the command to restore the original code on Nedry's computer in the main control room; in the film, Muldoon and Sattler had to go an isolated power shed.
In the novel, Lex and Tim were playing with Hammond's tyrannosaur call when he was walking in the park planning to salvage the park, making him slip from fear, breaking his ankle and is killed by compys, who scavenge and kill crippled animals, instead of him escaping after realizing his mistake as in the movie.
Donald Gennaro does not go back to the tour cars after tending to the sick stegosaur(a triceratops in the movie) and therefore is not present for the tyrannosaur incident. Therefore, he does not die, as he does in the film.
In the novel, John Hammond has more cynical and greedy motivations; in the film, most of Hammond's negative personality traits are given to the lawyer instead.
In the film adaptation Robert Muldoon, the Game warden, is killed by the Velociraptors, while in the novel he survives the attack by diving into a pipe where the raptors cannot follow, & firing at them with a portable missile launcher (fictional type, but somewhat like a reloadable version of a M72 LAW). In the film, it is Lex who hides herself in a pipe, to escape a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
In the book, Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler are not romantically involved, as they are in the film.
In the novel, Dr. Grant learns that some of Jurassic Park's dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus, can see only movement. In the novel, he makes his discovery waking up in a tree from which a Hadrosaur is eating. In the movie, as soon as the first tyrannosaurus attack begins, he immediately tells the several other characters to sit still because "[t]heir vision is based on movement!", & the scene with the Hadrosaur is dropped, replaced with Brachiosaurs & no such discovery.
In the novel, Tim Murphy used the computer to lock out the Velociraptors while in the film, Lex sorted out the computer while Grant and Ellie Sattler held the door against the Velociraptors.
The dinosaur species (excluding Procompsognathus, and the non-dinosaurs Pterosaurs) in the novel, Apatosaurus, Microceratops, Othnielia, Styracosaurus, Euoplocephalus, Hypsilophodon, and Maisaura, do not appear in the film adaptation. The only Hadrosaurs observed in the first film are Parasaurolophus. Apatosaurus is replaced by Brachiosaurus, unspecified Hadrosaurs are replaced by Gallimimus, and Stegosaurus was only seen in a tube label, despite being misspelled as Stegasaurus.
The survivors in the novel are Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Lex Murphy, Tim Murphy, Donald Genarro, Robert Muldoon, Dr. Harding, and several workmen. It is implied that Malcolm died, but in the sequel it is revealed he survived, although he was left with lasting injuries. In the film the survivors are Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Lex Murphy, Tim Murphy, Ian Malcolm and John Hammond. In the film, Henry Wu and Dr. Harding, along with all the workmen, left before the crises happened.
The park's computer systems are updated in the movie; the novel called for three Cray X-MPsupercomputers to be used for sequencing the dinosaur DNA; in the movie, the 'Mr. coffee' tour Animation reveals that the park uses Thinking Machines supercomputers, specifically eight Connection Machine CM-5s (as revealed by Dennis Nedry) and Silicon Graphics workstations. The supercomputers are not shown to the visitors in the movie, but are visible in the control room scenes as large metal towers covered in red lights, presumably for the visual effect of thousands of indicator lights.
In the novel, Ellie Sattler comes across a Velociraptor with a genetic mutation that allows it to change the colour of its skin. The device is so minor it is left out of the film, as the Velociraptor in question is juvenile & does not appear again.
In the novel Tim Murphy is quite skilled in climbing trees but in the film he does not want to climb down until the Land Cruiser starts to fall down the tree.
The character of Ed Regis is omitted. Parts of his character are present in the film version of Genarro.
In my opinion, the endings have the biggest differences (they were totally different), and the "lysine" subplot added a lot to the book, but was absent in the movie.
Last edited by arrow61095; 01-14-2009 at 02:11 PM.
My MAN...STEPHEN KING...is getting some HOLLYWOOD REVENGE after early disasters. (See Carrie, Cujo, Max Overdrive, Pet Cemetary -Shinning and the Dead Zone were the only ones that were good).
Since then...
STAND BY ME (One of my all time favorite Movies)
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (Voted No.1 on IMDB)(WOW)
GREEN MILE (If you didn't cry during this movie your not human).
1408 (JOHN CUSAK killed the lead role of an otherwise good movie).
Would love to see LANGOLIERS and the STAND on Blu and I heard THE STAND is in PRODUCTION for a 2010 release.
PLEASE, PLEASE STEVE...TEAM UP WITH PETER JACKSON and get the DARK TOWER Rolling. For my name sake, do not forget the face of your father. PLEASE!
Yes, you are correct Re: Jurassic Park. What my list was intended to be, IMHO, was a list of the best movies that were based on novels. I believe Jurassic Park to be one of the best movies of all time. I seriously doubt that any movie could be a literal scene by scene adaption of a novel. I did find your post to be interesting and educational and I do appreciate you bringing it to my attention.
Yes, you are correct Re: Jurassic Park. What my list was intended to be, IMHO, was a list of the best movies that were based on novels. I believe Jurassic Park to be one of the best movies of all time. I seriously doubt that any movie could be a literal scene by scene adaption of a novel. I did find your post to be interesting and educational and I do appreciate you bringing it to my attention.
thanks. cool.
I didn't find the movie to be bad, I just thought it was very different from the novel.
( Much the same way that I really like the movie V for Vendetta, even though it was significantly different from the graphic novel it was based on. )
But I thought that Jurassic Park was very different from the book.
While I agree there are changes, being "different" doesn't necessarily preclude the movie from being great in its own right. Specifically, it was ground breaking and awe-inspiring from a visual FX perspective. It still retains the core of the book, and that is a good thing.
Overall, I agree with the original poster. It was a great book, and it is also a great movie (though I also agreee with you that the movie was a bit "different").
I have to say that I loved the Godfather novel and thought the movies did a great job capturing the majority of the book.
A couple of the earlier Bond movies (From Russia with Love, Goldfinger) were outstanding movies that didn't stray too far from the source material.
Also, I thought Manhunter was an excellent adaptation of the Thomas Harris' Red Dragon. Manhunter is my favorite Lector movie and Red Dragon is by far the best book.
My MAN...STEPHEN KING...is getting some HOLLYWOOD REVENGE after early disasters. (See Carrie, Cujo, Max Overdrive, Pet Cemetary -Shinning and the Dead Zone were the only ones that were good).
Don't know that I completely agree there. I don't think it's held up particularly well, but I thought Silver Bullet was pretty good, as was the It miniseries.
Actually the first thing I thought of when I saw this topic was The Natural. Also enjoyed the John Malkovich/Gary Sinise version of Of Mice and Men.
I felt also it was a much better showing of that universe then the movie back in 1984.
The 1984 version was pretty bad, and didn't get close to the novel at all.
I just remember Sting, Patrick Stewart, and Max Von Sydow being in it. It was so bad that I have blocked the rest of the 1984 version from my mind.
i think that blog has funky criteria: "a film is not obligated to be a cinematic reproduction of the book...however sometimes a film suffers because it does not capture the spirit of the novel"
The Shining is the best example of this: great book and great movie, but King emphasized that the movie ignored a central theme of the book (alcoholism), so can a movie make the list if it ignores a central theme? i guess only a director like Kubrick can re-write a script and succeed as if he wrote the novel...
Check out blogger Riku Writes - Mostly About Films' entry on what he feels are some of the best adaptations of novels to ever hit the multiplex.
Agree? Disagree? Indifferent?
I have to disagree with the blogger on "The Shining." I hate Kubrick's version and there's a good reason Stephen King hated it as well: it was no longer his novel. The made-for-TV version was much more faithful (for better or worse) than Kubrick's.
Although I've only read part of the second book, the Harry Potter movies are good translations (if not better from the portion I read).
I expected to see LotR there and was happy not to see them. I wasn't happy with the way Jackson changed some of the characters. Merry and Pippin seemed like they were replaced by the fairies from Willow. Gimli and Legolas' relationship looks it was taken from a Dungeons & Dragons game session from the 80's. I also wasn't too keen on the ending since it sort of destroyed Tolkien's theme about the dangers of industrialization. I guess Jackson tried to make up for it with excessive scenes of the Uruk-hai caverns being built, but it's not quite the same as the hobbits going home to find their homeland turned into an industrial wasteland by a few greedy hobbits.
My MAN...STEPHEN KING...is getting some HOLLYWOOD REVENGE after early disasters. (See Carrie, Cujo, Max Overdrive, Pet Cemetary -Shinning and the Dead Zone were the only ones that were good).
Since then...
STAND BY ME (One of my all time favorite Movies)
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (Voted No.1 on IMDB)(WOW)
GREEN MILE (If you didn't cry during this movie your not human).
1408 (JOHN CUSAK killed the lead role of an otherwise good movie).
Would love to see LANGOLIERS and the STAND on Blu and I heard THE STAND is in PRODUCTION for a 2010 release.
PLEASE, PLEASE STEVE...TEAM UP WITH PETER JACKSON and get the DARK TOWER Rolling. For my name sake, do not forget the face of your father. PLEASE!
Sorry, but have to massively disagree on "1408" as (in my opinion) the actual short story by Stephen King is ions better than what became the movie.
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