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Topic: Movies Based on Books

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Percentful

I always like to see a movie if I've read the book it's based on, but I often leave the movie theater saying "that wasn't anything like the book." This is a thread to list any movie, regardless of how good it was, that didn't follow the book.
I'll start with Ella Enchanted. I can see why the writer [of the book] was regretful of selling the rights.

Edited on by Percentful

Just let it happen.

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BulbasaurusRex

I definitely agree with Ella Echanted, although I did like Anne Hathaway playing Ella.

I recently saw the Percy Jackson movie, and although I thought the movie was also really good, it changed around some major plot points. As a St. Louisan, I'm especially disappointed that they substituted a hydra fight in some Tennesee Parthanon replica for the chimera fight in the St. Louis Arch that's in the book, although I do see that including that fight would've been very expensive. I don't know how they're going to fix some things if they're going to make movies based off the rest of the books in the series.

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was originally a really short children's book, so it's understandable why they invented a new story around the concept, and I love it. That movie is hilarious!

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wiiplayer26

Don't hate me but i have to say Eragon.

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the_shpydar

I don't always mind when it's "nothing like the book". Of course, it's always a more difficult proposition when you're particualrly attached to a series or character to see a drastically changed version on the screen. Being a comic fan, that's always there going into any adaptation.

Adapting a novel or novel series is always challenging, since you're simply not going to have enough time -- even in a 3+ hour epic -- to capture or include everything that the author accomplished.

But if you can leave preconceptions behind and look more to see if the film stays true to the "essence" of the book or character or whatever, it helps. The Shining is a great example -- the Kubrick film changed A LOT of King's book (the mini-series done a few years ago with Steven Weber is a much truer adaptation), but still made for an excellent creepy film.

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Ravage

wiiplayer26 wrote:

Don't hate me but i have to say Eragon.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.......

i thought it was a good movie, then I read the book, then realized how terrible the movie was. Oh, and the fourth Harry Potter movie was possibly the worst adaption they've done.

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CanisWolfred

All of them. I can't think of any Book-to-Movie translation that was ever really anywhere near as good as the books they're based on.

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kevohki

Mickeymac wrote:

All of them. I can't think of any Book-to-Movie translation that was ever really anywhere near as good as the books they're based on.

You're trippin' fool.

A Clockwork Orange. American Psycho. The Graduate. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. THE GODFATHER.

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TwilightV

Last book based movie I saw was Coraline. It was pretty good. The only major difference was they added a character so she wouldn't always just be talking to herself.

TwilightV

BulbasaurusRex

Ravage wrote:

Oh, and the fourth Harry Potter movie was possibly the worst adaption they've done.

I thought the 5th movie was a worse adaptation, although I'd give the 4th one second place. I wasn't surprised at all to hear that they switched the screenwriter for the 5th movie only to switch back to the first guy for the 6th one. Dividing the last book into 2 movies should help prevent the problems they had with the 4th and 5th movies. Still, even the worse Harry Potter movie adaptations are quite a bit truer to the books than plenty of others.

Edited on by BulbasaurusRex

Ash: Professor Oak, how's your Bulbasaur?
Prof. Oak: Oh, it only hurts when I sit.
...
Prof. Oak: It's only Chansey if Krabby won't let go. Bye, now.
Ash: I don't think I'm going to call him anymore.

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irken004

TwilightV wrote:

Last book based movie I saw was Coraline. It was pretty good. The only major difference was they added a character so she wouldn't always just be talking to herself.

I liked that movie, never read the book.

Kid_A

kevohki wrote:

Mickeymac wrote:

All of them. I can't think of any Book-to-Movie translation that was ever really anywhere near as good as the books they're based on.

You're trippin' fool.

A Clockwork Orange. American Psycho. The Graduate. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. THE GODFATHER.

The Bourne trilogy, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Where the Wild Things Are, Jurassic Park and as somebody already said 2001: A Space Odessy.

Now, back on topic. I imagine a lot of people are going to start trash-talking the new Alice in Wonderland movie, and I will say the first time I saw it I loathed it. But the second time I saw it I really liked it. Is it entirely too "Disney"? Yes. Does it make far too much sense? Yes. But I felt it captured the spirit of Carol, and it's visually a work of art. As a rabid Carol fan the film was indeed disappointing, but I appreciate what Burton tried to do and I certainly wouldn't say he ruined the books.

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grenworthshero

I don't know if I've seen any movies that were ruined by their translation to film, but Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was by far the worst film adaptation of Harry Potter so far.

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Ricardo91

grenworthshero wrote:

I don't know if I've seen any movies that were ruined by their translation to film, but Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was by far the worst film adaptation of Harry Potter so far.

I disagree. I actually thought The Goblet of Fire was one of the better Harry Potter movies. Order of the Phoenix, however...

Aviator

Kid_A wrote:

kevohki wrote:

Mickeymac wrote:

All of them. I can't think of any Book-to-Movie translation that was ever really anywhere near as good as the books they're based on.

You're trippin' fool.

A Clockwork Orange. American Psycho. The Graduate. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. THE GODFATHER.

The Bourne trilogy, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Where the Wild Things Are, Jurassic Park and as somebody already said 2001: A Space Odessy.

Now, back on topic. I imagine a lot of people are going to start trash-talking the new Alice in Wonderland movie, and I will say the first time I saw it I loathed it. But the second time I saw it I really liked it. Is it entirely too "Disney"? Yes. Does it make far too much sense? Yes. But I felt it captured the spirit of Carol, and it's visually a work of art. As a rabid Carol fan the film was indeed disappointing, but I appreciate what Burton tried to do and I certainly wouldn't say he ruined the books.

I cant see the slightest how one can call Tim Burton Disney at all. He is his own genre.

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grenworthshero

Ricardo91 wrote:

grenworthshero wrote:

I don't know if I've seen any movies that were ruined by their translation to film, but Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was by far the worst film adaptation of Harry Potter so far.

I disagree. I actually thought The Goblet of Fire was one of the better Harry Potter movies. Order of the Phoenix, however...

Seriously!? I thought Order of the Phoenix was definitely the best one, and Goblet of Fire was the worst

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kevohki

@Aviator

I agree with Tim Burton having a style/genre all to himself mostly but Alice in Wonderland was watered-down to Disney level. Hardly dark or witty. The film started out alright but was a complete mess by the end. Not his best work. I personally am still hoping for a film adaptation of American McGee's Alice, however unlikely that is.

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Ravage

The green Mile was also a good adaption, oh, and The Mist.
I kind of enjoyed the fifth Harry Potter, but then again, I couldn't remember much of the book... Although, I didn't really like that one, there didn't seem to be much direction to it other than to kill Serious (however his name is spelled).

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