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Movies Never As Good As The Book!

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Why does Hollywood get it so wrong when adapting a book to the big screen? Just watched A Wrinkle In Time and they have totally ruined Madeleine L'Engle's classic for me.

Makes wonder when has a Hollywood adaptation been as good or better than the book? Can anyone even name one?

PaxAmerica
a month ago
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tumblespots

If I have read the book then I really can't watch the film as they always manage to spoil it by changing things. Similarly if I accidentally see the film then I can't read the book!

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PaxAmerica

tumblespots Thats an interesting point

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AlysonC

I can't think of a single film that was better than the book. I guess that the nearest was Silence of the Lambs, but still not quite as good. Just thought of one! Schindler's List was as good, if not better than the book Schindler's Ark.

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PaxAmerica

AlysonC What a movie. Thats probably down to SPielberg. And on that note I think the movie Jaws is better than the book especially with all the changes he made.

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AlysonC

PaxAmerica I agree. He's such a talent.

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suevernon1968

It would be incredibly difficult to do a film that matches the book as the books always have so much more information and your own imagination adds to it. The closest I have seen is The Stand written by Stephen king. Its a thick book and the film is 8 (yes eight) hours long. It was initially aired as a mini series. Both the book and the film were excellent.

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BonzoBanana

I don't think Michael Crichton is a particularly good author in how it actually writes the books although they contain many great ideas. I didn't enjoy the books Jurassic Park or Andromeda Strain as much as the movies. Also I could never get into Shakespeare, we read a few at school and I didn't enjoy them and while not a fan of movie adaptations of Shakespeare's I'd much rather watch those than read the books. I'm more of a Dickens fan for classic English literature. Ultimately though I think they can be two very different experiences. I enjoy reading Arthur C Clarke novels and also enjoyed the movies based on the Sentinel and 2010 the book. I actually enjoyed 2010 more than 2001 with regard movies. I read the Sentinel before I saw 2001 and I've never read the adapted Sentinel novel to match the 2001 movie script. There is quite a lot of difference between the Sentinel and 2001 so a different experience.

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MrsCraig

I think Gone with the Wind is a pretty good adaptation. Not a film version, but the BBC versions of Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre were fantastic.

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hspexy

I was forced to endure reading Lord of the Rings as a kid - I absolutely hated it, and I thought it was the worst of anything I had to read at the time. However, when the movies came out, I enjoyed them - but I’d imagine if I had re-read the books as an adult, I’m sure the film versions would only be a shadow of what the books could convey

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jms19

It’s hard to match people’s imaginations so they won’t get it right for most. A lot of book adaptations do tend to be terrible though.

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MelissaLee1

I just saw the screen version of Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham.The ending is completly different.I'm not averse to a little poetic license but sometime the film is 85% removed from the original.

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ACR

A lot of people prefer Stanley Kubrick's film adaption of The Shining (1980) over Stephen King's original novel.

In my view Stanley Kubrick's film version of A Clockwork Orange (1971) is a faithful and very good adaption of Anthony Burgess's 1962 book.

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martinlufc5637

They don't follow the book because it's for entertainment purposes , movies are never the same as the book,they make historical films like Napoleon and they can't even get their historical facts correct

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