Cases where the movie was better than the book?

[Vic]

Originally posted by: toekramp
fight club? they were at least on par

Negative, ghostrider, the book was much better. The movie's ending just plain sucked.


There are very few cases where the movie is better than the book. The original Star Wars trilogy is about all I can think of, except maybe every other similar case where the movie came out before the book.

Otherwise, the book is always better than the movie, especially LOTR, where the books are among the greatest pieces of literature ever created, and the movies were big-budget crap.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

i thought the books were a LOT better (both Jurassic Park and The Lost World). But then again i saw the movies b4 i read the books...and the images from the movies kept playing in my mind when i was reading Crichton's descriptions

Same here. The book was a lot...darker...than the movie. Hammond (I think that was the guy who built the park right?) was a bastard and died like a bastard should. Movie never relayed that. Plus the whole scene in the book where they fire up the computer that tracks the numbers of dinosaurs was classic...never touched on that really in the movie.

The movie for JP was great, I have no complaints, but the book was just a lot more...devious.

I don't remember that(computer tracking scene), I'll have to read the book again.

 

The classic answer is "one flew over the cuckoo's nest".

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was equal if not better.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Honestly? The LOTR trilogy.

/zips up flame suit

/unzips your flame suit and takes :camera:'s

 

[Wuffsunie]

Jaws is the best example. Spielberg is a filmmaking GOD to pull out what he did from the steaming pile of dung that was Benchley's book.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. I'm only saying this because the book was one of the few that bored me to tears, taking me forever to read.

Hunt for Red October was one of the few that had an equally great book and movie. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is another like that.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: jumpr
I thought The Client was much better in movie form.

Yeah, pretty much any Grisham movie is better than the book.

That's exactly what I was going to say.

Originally posted by: SampSon
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was equal if not better.

I have to disagree. I think the movie was too tame, not dark nor shocking enough. It was good, but it never "felt" right to me.

I agree with those that said the Bourne Identity movie was better. Personally, I think Ludlum is a pretty crappy writer.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Of course that's not very hard, considering the quality of the movie.

WHAT?!

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Damn near anything by John Grisham.

 

[Horus]

Starship Troopers. Hands Down.

I mean, the book is all, like, SERIOUS and stuff...the movie is supposed to be a comedy, right?

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Horus
Starship Troopers. Hands Down.

I mean, the book is all, like, SERIOUS and stuff...the movie is supposed to be a comedy, right?

LOL, the book and movie were great in totally different ways.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Of course that's not very hard, considering the quality of the movie.

WHAT?!

Thought Sphere was the reverse: an excellent book, but a terrible movie.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Of course that's not very hard, considering the quality of the movie.

WHAT?!

Thought Sphere was the reverse: an excellent book, but a terrible movie.

Exactly. So much wasted talent.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Roger Rabbit

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: preslove

Originally posted by: toekramp
fight club? they were at least on par

I haven't read fight club. But I started reading the book that the author wrote after it, and it's one of the worst pieces of garbage I've ever read. His prose is godawful. I really like Fight Club the movie, though.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is my favorite movie conversion. It mimics the book to perfection, which was probably only possible because the book is quite short.

wow, i've read all of chuck palaniuk's books and highly recommend them, imho he's a great writer, one of the best in quite awhile. personally i liked the book 'fight club' better than the movie, altho i really like the author so others may not agree.

The Bourne Identity?

the books were so much better. the story was fleshed out a lot more. i haven't seen the 2nd movie yet, but i can't imagine it can follow the plot of the book seeing the way the first movie ended.

 

[CaptainKahuna]

The Count of Montecristo was an awesome movie and way better than the book.

 

[Wuffsunie]

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Of course that's not very hard, considering the quality of the movie.

WHAT?!

*Blinks, rereads, goes back to edit. Makes note never to post sh!t like this when dead tired*

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Shawshank Redemption, although it was a novella

 

[puffff]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
Everybody likes to say how 'the book was better than the movie'. This is absolutely true. I can think of some examples where the movie was very good, but never as good as the book. It seems to me that it's impossible to convey the same meanings on film as in text, specifically emotions in the first person. Can you think of any examples where the movie was better than the book?

And they say 'A picture is worth a thousand words'....

 

[alrocky]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Princess Bride -- Goldman's version of the book includes a depressing side story of his mserable life that ruins the fairy tale.

Arrgh. That's good to know... my two copies (one a present) of Princess Bride arrived today and was curious how the the book and the movie compared.

Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg gives Thomas Keneally's novel a good run for the money.

Planet of the Apes (with Charlton Heston.)

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: fisher

Originally posted by: preslove

Originally posted by: toekramp
fight club? they were at least on par

I haven't read fight club. But I started reading the book that the author wrote after it, and it's one of the worst pieces of garbage I've ever read. His prose is godawful. I really like Fight Club the movie, though.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is my favorite movie conversion. It mimics the book to perfection, which was probably only possible because the book is quite short.

wow, i've read all of chuck palaniuk's books and highly recommend them, imho he's a great writer, one of the best in quite awhile. personally i liked the book 'fight club' better than the movie, altho i really like the author so others may not agree.

The Bourne Identity?

the books were so much better. the story was fleshed out a lot more. i haven't seen the 2nd movie yet, but i can't imagine it can follow the plot of the book seeing the way the first movie ended.

My brother saw the second one, but I haven't- he told me that he'd sorry he read the books first, because the movies would be great alone, but having read the books first, he knows that they had potential for so much more.

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Of course that's not very hard, considering the quality of the movie.

WHAT?!

*Blinks, rereads, goes back to edit. Makes note never to post sh!t like this when dead tired*

You best be editing, youngin...

 

[JetBlack69]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
Shawshank Redemption, although it was a novella

That's what I thought of when I read the thread title.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Battlefield Earth. I was riding lightrail home from the community college one day when I found the book on a seat with nobody else around. I tried to read the first eight pages and ended up throwing the book across to the other side of the lightrail car and leaving it there. And, no you buttheads, it wasn't because the words were too big I ended up picking it back up and taking it home, but I dunno why. I lost it here somewhere.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: toekramp
fight club? they were at least on par

sorry i lost your book bud

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Horus
Starship Troopers. Hands Down.

I mean, the book is all, like, SERIOUS and stuff...the movie is supposed to be a comedy, right?

What. the. FSCK. :|

Go back to your toys, little boy. Starship Troopers, the book by Robert Heinlein, is a science fiction masterpiece, winner of a Hugo Award, and one of the most influential and best-selling science fiction books of all time.

The movie, in comparison, is a complete disjointed joke. A farce at best.

 

[CombatChuk]

Originally posted by: CaptainKahuna
The Count of Montecristo was an awesome movie and way better than the book.

Edmund Dauntes was such a bad ass