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When the Film was better than the Book


bree

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Probably a sacrilegious topic on a book forum :D

Or not. :)

 

Can't think of any myself - though I've heard plenty of people say that about The African Queen (I don't agree though).

 

Have you watched a film which was more enjoyable than reading the book?

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Well I really like the film of The Notebook, but I saw the film before I read the book so that might colour my opinion (it's such a great film, though). In the other cases I can think of atm, I always liked the book better (but then I usually read the book first..). Maybe I just like best what I read/see first :P.

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I'm not really sure. In a way Harry Potter could be seen as better than the book just by the way that they've presented it and how realistic it actually looks with all the special effects and everything. But not really anything that comes to mind. :/

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I've always said (when I've got the right film . . . ) that The Order of the Phoenix was better as a film.

 

For me, the book was about 200 pages too long and the film condensed the essence of the book into a very enjoyable story that was told very well.

 

The same can also be said, but to a lesser extent, of the next three films as well. 

 

Harry's final showdown with Voldemort (I hope you all winced when reading that . . .) was certainly better in the film than it was in the book.

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Stardust, the film is waaaaay better than the book.

:o  I loved the book so much more than the film! The book came across so much less cheesy and as far as I can remember they completely missed out the proper ending from the film! 

 

I think I'd agree with everyone on the later Harry Potter films though, after The Order of the Phoenix the books just didn't seem as good, but I did like the films.

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I just thought of another one! I saw the movie The Time Machine before I read the book, and I much prefer the movie. Not that the book was bad by any means, it was pretty good, but the movie had a lot more elements to it that I thought really helped the story, partially due to those, the main character was much more likeable than in the book, to me.

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I must say I preferred the Percy Jackson film to the book. I might give those books another go one day though.

 

Stardust, the film is waaaaay better than the book.

 

I agree :) I much preferred the ending of the film than the ending of the book. The book ending made so little impact that I don't even remember what it was :wacko:

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Jaws is the first film I think of which I enjoyed more than the book. There is something about the subject matter which demands visuals and suspenseful music even though I read the book first as a kid (because I wasn't allowed to watch the movie).

 

Also I enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey more as a film because it was so boundary pushing whereas the book is just a solid Sci-fi with a lot of the mystery taken away because Clarke decides to explain too much. 

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Probably a sacrilegious topic on a book forum :D

Or not. :)

 

Can't think of any myself - though I've heard plenty of people say that about The African Queen (I don't agree though).

 

Have you watched a film which was more enjoyable than reading the book?

The film of My house in Umbria by William Trevor, is much better than the book, and the book is very good. Recommendation enough? It ought to be. :D

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Awww, I loved the book!

 

These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach - which became The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - the film was WAY better than the book!

You saved me writing about this !! Book got sooo dull towards the end, film is terrific..well Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith equals good, no? :giggle2:

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Awww, I loved the book!

 

I found the book to be rather ordinary, with little of the magic and humour of the film (which I saw before I read the book).  

 

I agree :) I much preferred the ending of the film than the ending of the book. The book ending made so little impact that I don't even remember what it was :wacko:

 

I can't remember how the book finished either!

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a fantastic adapation of the book, a book that was in my top 3 at the time.

 

Cloud Atlas - much better movie adaption than book, but i think it is as there was a need for it to be visual. 

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Stardust, the film is waaaaay better than the book.

 

I totally agree with you there. To me it just seemed like the book just wasn't finished?

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

The Godfather book is completely inferior to the first two movies.
It's a good read, but the sub-plots bring it down. It's not relevant at all and it feels as if you're reading something else. If I had known this, I would have skipped those chapters. I loved the detail it provided for Vito's backstory; I wish it got as deep as that in Part II.
 

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Probably a sacrilegious topic on a book forum :D

Or not. :)

 

Can't think of any myself - though I've heard plenty of people say that about The African Queen (I don't agree though).

 

Have you watched a film which was more enjoyable than reading the book?

 

I found the book rather wooden - not unlike quite a bit of CS Forester (Hornblower being an exception) - I certainly enjoyed the film more, but then I'm a bt of a fan of Katherine Hepburn.

 

One other exception to the rule that the book is almost always superior to the film is, for me, The Da Vinci Code.  The film was poor, but the book was so dire that it was hard to get any worse.

 

Having said that, there are one or two films where I've enjoyed it almost as much as the book, perhaps the same.  The standout on that front is The Hours: a brilliant book that was brilliantly filmed - both amongst my favourites for each genre, the film being amongst my top five.  Unusually, the soundtrack was a stunner too - one of the only ones that I regularly play.

Edited by willoyd
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