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Do you think books turned into movies do it justice?


RobinA

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When making a movie from a book, alot of important information is left out.

I remember when my child was younger and the first Harry Potter movie came out (he had already read the book)

He embarrassed me to no end, when he stood up in a packed theater and stated "They left a part/scene out"

Even children that read notice this, He was so upset.

I always say read the book before the movie that way you can fill in what they don't show. :)

 

I agree with you on that. I think always reading the book first (when you know there is a book) is a smart thing to do.

I do sometimes read the books after the movie only simply because I had no idea it was a book first.

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It depends largely on the book in question and the people who turn it into a film.

 

Some book adaptations do little more than pay lip service to the title of the original (I, Robot and I am Legend, for example) but in the hands of people who care about the original work and understand it, some very good films have been made (like The Lord of the Rings films).

 

Most book adaptations usually fall somewhere in between these examples, but there are also some who exceed the original source material and I would single out Stardust for this. Neil Gaiman's novel isn't a bad book, but Jane Goodman and Matthew Vaughan's screenplay has far more magic in it and works far better for me than the book it was based on. I would also say the same about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which took a bloated, protracted story and turned it into a tight, well-paced film.

 

 

The Goblet of Fire was difficult to read for me, I just found it so hard to get through. But the movie was great. I agree that they did a great job on that one.

I however do love all of the Harry Potter movies to no end. I can watch them over and over. Sometimes I forget that I am an adult and think to myself " should I be watching these movies so often?"

Then I think I'm sure that there must be millions of adults that watch the Harry Potter movies more then their children. Well I hope. :)

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I'm generally pretty forgiving of movie adaptations, and I love all of the Harry Potter movies, but the Goblet of Fire does annoy me. I reckon the dragon scene was made way too long, and some of that time would have been much better spent adding to the maze scenes.

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Nuts, I just realised I typed the wrong film title above, I was actually talking about The Order of the Pheonix which took a bloated, protracted story and turned it into a tight, well-paced film. The Goblet of Fire is actually the film I think was the weakest adaptation because of some odd story choices and also because of some especially bad acting from Watson and Grint.

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Some movies do justice to the book. A few that spring to mind are The Green Mile - both the book and film are excellent - The Godfather, and Brokeback Mountain. Well, Brokeback Mountain was a short story; a very good one, which was turned into an excellent film.

What about "Gone With the Wind"?

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Goblet of Fire was my favourite of the books, but the film was definitely lacking in comparison.

 

I've just watched Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (I read the book last year) and loved it every bit as much as I did the book. I thin ka large part of that comes from the fact the the author (Seth Grahame-Smith) also wrote the screen play so we were pretty much certain of a faithful adaptation.

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  • 1 month later...

The best film adaptations in my view are the ones that stand on their own and make you think of the original in a different way. The classic for me is The Shining. I love the book but I think Kubrick does something amazing with the film - I can no longer read that book without thinking of the film.

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