Books I Loathed discussion
Loathesome Movie Adaptations of Books
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Jessica
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 12:01PM)
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Aug 16, 2007 06:50PM
I was trying to think of movie adaptations of books that, for whatever reason, totally missed the mark. Or hey, maybe there are some good movies adapted from bad books. What are some of the ones you love to hate?
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War of the Worlds
I echo Sarah's mention of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - just effing awful - it seemed like Kenneth Brannaugh had decided to start working out and needed an excuse (i.e. this movie) to go shirtless and show off his new "look! I've been to the gym!" physique.Bonfire of the Vanities - not a terrible film per se, just did not measure up to the book.
Pride and Prejudice (starring Keira Knightley) - it seems that the cinematographer or director (or maybe both) had the horn for Keira Knightley because much of the story was cut so that we could be subjected to endless beauty shots of her staring off into the mist, looking thoughtfully at herself in the mirror, or examining the crud under her nails. Weird Darcy.
Pretty much any film version of Jane Ayre.
Both versions of Lolita
Tristram Shandy - I must admit that I have not read this, but such a fuss was made by critics over how wonderful the film was that I rented it and thought it was complete smug, smirking crap. I hope the novel is better.
Dune (yikes!)
That's all I can think of for now - I will revisit later as I think of more.
Oh these are good!Harriet The Spy was an awful, horrible, miss-the-point-entirely adaptation.
I didn't hate either Lolita, actually, though the Kubrick might as well have been about a different book.
Bonfire of the Vanities was horribly miscast, for starters.
And Possession was entirely ill-conceived.
I have lots of movie/book thoughts, but for now the one that I am obsessed with is The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham. Wow the movie is just incredible and haunting and so is the book. However, the book is so tough...there's just no hope. The movie is much easier on the psyche. Everyone talks about Kitty's evolution in the book, but I thought it was much more evident in the movie. The book is good, but just not as good as the movie.
Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining. Granted the movie scared the crap outta me and I appreciate it, but it wasn't accurate.I was terribly disappointed with the movie version of The DaVinci Code.
Rare the-movie-was-better-than-the-book examples:
The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King (He hadn't quite honed his skills for cluing the reader in without giving too much away in the book, which is why the movie is soooooooo much better.)
The Princess Bride...the book is AWFUL! The movie is one of my all-time favorites.
I second the Jaws adaptation. The book was good, but the movie has kept me out of the ocean (or any dark water for that matter) pretty much my entire life.
The American version of Lord of the Flies was disappointing; Ethan Hawke was horrible as Hamlet; almost any attempt at making a movie out of Great Expectations has been unsuccessful (though Ethan Hawke was a better Pip than Hamlet!); same with The Great Gatsby (maybe Hawke should give this one a shot as well?); an ancient movie version of The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner and a very young William Shatner was bizarre at best; Goodbye, Columbus was a brilliant short novel but a silly movie.Flipping things around, Brokeback Mountain was a very ordinary short story but a stunning film; Heart of Darkness, a boring novel, became magic as Apocalypse Now.
Chocolat
Perfume - wonderful novel, haven't seen the film, but three people I recommended the book to walked out, so that told me all I needed to know.Dr Zhivago - actually a great film, but still sells Pasternak short.
Oliver - excellent musical but SO saccharine compared to the Dickens novel.
i was very disappointed by "girl with a pearl earring". it was so good up until the very end when they totally and completely ruined it. they rushed the ending, and the ending is what made the book so good.any movie of "frankenstein" is just awful. and most movies of dickens' novels tend to miss the mark.
i do, however, love a&e's "pride & prejudice", as well as any branagh shakespeare adaptation.
I thought the version of Bleak House they did with Gillian Anderson was pretty well done and I'm a bit verklempt that I missed the very end of it. (Had company that weekend) But A&E's Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth? Wow. Great. The Keira Knightley version did make me want to rinse my eyeballs with acid though.
I liked the movie adaptation of Girl With A Pearl Earring.
A lot of Stephen King adaptations, with the notable exception of The Shining, were total pieces of crap. Any Danielle Steel novel should never be adapted, though it keeps Lifetime in business.
She-Devil with Roseanne Barr was a sacrilege.
A lot of John Grisham adaptations, and Michael Crichton adaptations, were bad. Mostly mainstream and forgettable.
This is another one for the good movie, disappointing book list.I've long had a soft spot for "Gas Food Lodging" by Allison Anders. However, when I finally read the source novel (Richard Peck's "Don't Look and It Won't Hurt"), I found it to be very disappointing. I'm not sure what it was missing from the book, but I found the film to be the stronger piece of the two, and I'm very impressed that Anders found what she did within the novel.
I feel the same way about "Dangerous Liaisons." And to be perfectly honest, "Valmont" and "Cruel Intentions." I've read the original work in translation, and I've even tried it in the original French, but it wasn't nearly as fun as any of the screen adaptations.
You know, I've decried Hollywood translations on occasion, but right now, I can't really think of many.Note on I Robot: It was originally based off a completely different story (I forget what and who's, wasn't anything I'd heard of) - and then the legal department decided it was too much like the Asimov story, so they needed to get the rights to it to be safe... and then they decided they should do something with the story they had the rights to....
Harlan Ellison wrote a screenplay adaption of I, Robot that has been published, though not filmed. It is recommended (Asimov was still alive at the time and liked it).
I thought the first Harry Potter movie was good, but straining to contain the novel in a single movie. Considering that the rest of the books are longer... they should have given up and done mini-series. I'm also not happy with the new director (what's with all the muggle clothes at Hogwarts?).
My favorite adaptations (though it wasn't to the big screen) are the Jeremy Brett versions of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
I am going to have to say one of the absolute worst adaptations to screen was "The Bone Collector" based off the Jeffery Deaver novel (that scared the #$%& out of me!!) Did the screen writer even read the book??? Horrible!There are many more that are escaping me right now, I am sure I will post again.
On the flip side though, the movie version of "Notes on a Scandal" was actually better than the book. They took all the things that were wrong with the book (particularly the ending) and changed them! Plus, brilliant casting.
"Girl with a Pearl Earring" was perplexing because the ending was just completely mangled, no?My all-time least favorite movie adaptation was "Simon Birch" from "Prayer for Owen Meany." I know some people hate this book, but since the film makers had to change the name of the main character, of course it wasn't faithful to the book nor even, in my opinion, to the spirit of it. However, the main character was an AWESOME casting choice. I never thought they'd find an Owen.
I also thought that Michelle Pfeiffer was horribly miscast in "White Oleander." I pictured someone like Cate Blanchett in that role even while I read the book. Poor Michelle ruined the movie for me. I also thought that Robin Wright Penn and Renee Zelweger (sp?) should have flip-flopped their casting roles. Just a thought.
Some of my favorite movie adaptations are:
*To Kill a Mockingbird (One of my favorite movies of all time)
*Joy-Luck Club
*Memoirs of a Geisha
I recently watched "Stardust" and I almost walked out. The book is one of my favorites, but I thought the movie came off too slapstick. Although, there are so many people loved the movie and hated the book that I'm thinking I read the book in a different way than other people. I also really loved the book "The Princess Bride" but didn't like the movie as much. Ooh, and I cringe at the thought of the new "Beowulf" movie. Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother? And are they really trying to make Grendel Beowulf's son?
I was married to a Goth for 6 1/2 years and in all that time, despite many 'good faith efforts' I have yet to make it conscious all the way through 'Interview with a Vampire.'
I did manage to read the book though :D
I did manage to read the book though :D
I agree the ending of GWAPE needed work. It was abrupt, but the movie was beautifully filmed and well casted.To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favorite movies of all time. I can watch it any time and still its riveting.
:) Oh? We're supposed to be loathing something?
Sorry.
... the Elliot Goldenthal soundtrack to 'Interview' was pretty great, though.Not a book comment per se, but I really like Goldenthal.
You know that Anne Rice originally (when she first wrote the book) wanted Rutger Hauer to play Lestat - which I think would have been brilliant casting. Tom Cruise was ridiculous in the part. And, did anyone else think that Louis should have been more fey? Or, at least, less buff than Brad Pitt?
I'll still watch "Clueless" any time it shows up on the TV schedule. (Though Alicia Silverstone might have been better advised to quit while she was ahead).The Keira Knightly version of P & P was overly prettified, though it had its moments. And I confess to having enjoyed Donald Sutherland as Mr Bennett, while loating Brenda whatshername as Mrs B.
I enjoyed reading "The Vampire Lestat", but the film was simply unwatchable.
Angelina Jolie in "Grendel"? Excuse me while I rend my garments.
In Order:
Sherri - You got away with peeking? I got stuck watching the first 1/2 hr of that movie at least 6 times (I think the longest I stayed awake was 43 min. but who's counting?)
Michael: I love a good soundtrack, but I'm not familiar with him. I'll definitely check it out, any suggestions?
Alex: Rutger Hauer would've been awesome. Louis should've been more fey, but just like the book he's plenty irritating.
Sherri (again!):You're the second person to mention Blind Fury to me in as many days. I hear it's like the crappy American version of Zatoichi (therefore I must see it).
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Thanks for the heads up! I thought I'd fallen asleep before the sexually intense parts. Now I have NO reason to ever give that film another shot :D
Sherri - You got away with peeking? I got stuck watching the first 1/2 hr of that movie at least 6 times (I think the longest I stayed awake was 43 min. but who's counting?)
Michael: I love a good soundtrack, but I'm not familiar with him. I'll definitely check it out, any suggestions?
Alex: Rutger Hauer would've been awesome. Louis should've been more fey, but just like the book he's plenty irritating.
Sherri (again!):You're the second person to mention Blind Fury to me in as many days. I hear it's like the crappy American version of Zatoichi (therefore I must see it).
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Thanks for the heads up! I thought I'd fallen asleep before the sexually intense parts. Now I have NO reason to ever give that film another shot :D
I'm so glad other people don't like the Keira Knightley P&P. For me, it was mostly the uneven pacing - went through some parts way too fast and then lingered inexplicably on unimportant things. Also didn't like Keira in the cast - she always does this baring teeth thing when her character is angry that I find distracting.Xysea: the Bleak House miniseries was so good it got me to read the book, and having almost finished the book, I've got to say that the miniseries did a remarkable job with the adaptation. I own Bleak House on DVD now, so will be rewatching it soon.
I was quite disappointed with the Empire Falls miniseries. The ending of the book was so intense, and the miniseries just didn't do that justice.
While the Lord of the Rings movies did an admirable job of compressing the books into movie-length movies, I hate them with an eternal fury because I think they totally missed the point. Whenever I read the books I'm struck by how everything that is done is motivated by each character's love for his friends. They are noble and idealized and while I like the fighting, I really am in it for the Love. Merry at Theoden's death breaks my heart every time. No one works himself into a frenzy before plunging into battle; no one has to yell at anyone else (weight room style) to get him "pumped up" for fighting. They just do it because if they don't their friends will suffer.In the movie it seems to me like it's all about manly men shouting at each other to man up. Before every battle someone has to shout at someone else to pull himself together. The ents, so noble in the book as they go off to what they think might be their last march ever, are so lame in the movie that they have to be tricked into helping with the war effort. TRICKED!
The part in the movies that gets it closest to right is when, in the first one, Merry and Pippin realize that Frodo means to go to Mordor alone and sacrifice themselves to lead the orcs off the trail. Sam's loving gazes at Frodo in the third one struck me as pretty close to the book as well.
the never ending story.the hobbit.
I had no idea! Rutger Hauer would have been a PERFECT Lestat ... now I want the whole shemozzle made again with him in his 'proper' role and then I might actually be able to watch it instead of getting up and doing the ironing after twenty minutes.NB - for me to do the ironing, a film has to be pretty damn awful.
Amelie Nothomb's 'Stupeur et Tremblements' - the sarcastic tinge is more poignant in the movie.Frazer's 'Cold Mountain' - a more colourful weepie!
By the way, anyone could tell me a site on movies similar to this site on books? Thanks.
I always do the ironing while watching movies. Can you imaging ironing with no entertainment? *shock*
Georgia - the closest thing I know is imdb.com but you get all these annoying trolls on there. I wish there was a movie site like this!
The Handmaid's Tale - oh my god they turned an amazing deep insightful book into soft core Cinemax late night nonsense! Absolutely unforgivable.
Good books made into bad movies:- Memoirs of a Geisha (somewhat entertaining movie, but didn't follow the same storyline as the book)
- The Great Gatsby (there are 2 movie/TV movie versions, the second one with Mira Sorvino, is slightly better, but both pale in comparison to the book)
- The DaVinci Code: the book was good (not awesome), but the movie was absolutely awful. Who the heck cast Tom Hanks in this movie? I like Tom Hanks, but he was so miscast in this movie.
Bad Books, Bad Movies
- Ethan Frome: freshman HS teacher forced us to read the book and then watch the movie, talk about torture, both were horrible
- Tristram Shandy: haven't seen the movie, but any movie based off this book is a snooze-fest
My biggest pet peeve is when filmmakers change the original storyline of the book when they make a movie.
I'm kind of surprised these haven't come up already: The Scarlet Letter (1995--with Demi Moore, Robert Duvall, and Gary Oldman) and Beloved (the 1998 Oprah version). To be fair, I haven't seen either of them, but I continually hear about how awful they are. I'm curious what the rest of you think. Have you seen them? Are they really that bad?
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Fear that everyone here will think I'm ridiculous for liking Thomas Harris (Dragon and Silence, anyway -- I have strictly avoided the sequels, which ruined my sister's life)...
Oh, I loved Manhunter. Also, Silence of the Lambs. But Hannibal and Hannibal Rising - well, let's call them what they were....money-making ventures. And if Austen is done right, Kate, it should be funny. She was also well known for satire, Jane was. :)
Georgia - For movie discussion, I regularly post on the General Discussion forum at rottentomatoes.com site. It's not as immediately friendly as 'goodreads' and isn't of course exactly 'like' in structure, but you can find some good film discussion there, and some nice people too. :)
The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore makes me want to weep bitter tears. Nathaniel Hawthorne's book, and the story that book was based on (American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied The Puritans) are subtle, multi-faceted works that delve into human nature, religion, right and wrong, persecution, sin and redemption, crime and punishment. That 'movie' did nothing of the sort and, much like Sherri says about P&P, reduced it to romance novel tripe.I didn't remember to add it here because I was trying to blank it out, and had succeeded until you reminded me....lol
Why did you do that? Argh! ;)
And for the record, Demi is a multiple offender, and should be put up for some equivalent of a Razzie. She also had the temerity to offend by starring in 'Striptease' which was a mediocre book by Carl Hiassen - but one of the worst.films.ever.made.
Scarlett. The "sequel" to Gone With the Wind. I'm past the point of defending the book's merit, since I'm past the point of no return on adoring the book (I spent a few years reading GWTW and Scarlett, back to back, nonstop, when I was in middle school, and they're permanently carved in my "favorite books" lists, regardless of literary merit).I could. Not. Believe. The television mini-series they did for Scarlett. They LITERALLY changed every single fact they could possibly find, and then threw in SCENES WHICH DID NOT EXIST! I suffered through the first half of the mini-series, literally screaming contradictions out loud at the TV screen. I have never been so disgusted with a film adaptation of a movie in my life!
Fear not, Kate. You Are Not Alone! I too loved Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, I even read (and actually rather liked) Hannibal. I haven't got round to Hannibal Rising because I've heard terrible things about the book, but it'll turn up in a charity shop sometime and I shall read it then ...
I think I have a copy of it Kay, on my bookshelf. Let me confirm that and you can have a hardcover version of Hannibal Rising.Seriously. Take my book - please! :)
If you want it, private message me.
I totally agree about 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' - also, I thought that they made a huge error in casting Colin Firth. Much as I love him, in the book that character was much more shy, haunted and fragile - he seemed to be almost from another, gentler, aesthetic world, that Griet belonged to too. Someone like Ralph Fiennes may have gotten that better - Colin Firth just looked angry or pained.
Kristine - I think I'm in love. You sound exactly like me....I really liked Scarlett too. I remember a particularly infuriating instance in Math class in 7th grade when I had been reading Scarlett for a week every chance I could get and the Math teacher had us do problems at our desks or something. I hated math, I loved to read. So I started reading in my boring math class because seriously I was never going to do anything with math (and haven't, I should add). Of course, I was made to put my book away. All that being said, I enjoyed Scarlett and of course really love GWTW. Even though many things were changed for the GWTW movie (where did Scarlett's THREE OTHER CHILDREN go?), I felt like it was at least a semi faithful adaptation. With Scarlett, I wanted to rip the tape out of the VCR and burn it. It was trite drivel...reminded me of a soap opera rather than the grand sweeping epic of redemption and maturation that Ripley wrote. Everyone involved in the production of that horrible mini series should be made to stand in the public square and have rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at them. I calls dibs on first toss. For shame!
Also, gotta give a nod to 'Possession' for bad adaptation. Although it got many things right (Jennifer Ehle and Jeremy Northam (although he was technically too young) and their uberhot Victorian love scene, and Gwynth Paltrow was perfect casting), and also gets points for coming from an almost-impossible-to-adapt book, oof, what a terrible movie. In my opinion, the most glaring of the errors was changing the main character from a nebbish and shy British academic to the nearly-swashbuckling American he is in the movie - suddenly it no longer seemed like the story of an academic driven by his love for the mystery of what he studies, but rather a treasure-hunter. And, much as I love Aaron Eckhardt, he looks like he spends time in a library to pick up girls, not to spend hours pouring through centuries-old journals. Also, did they have to lose the detail about her headscarves? That's a huge character point lost in favor of Gwyneth's glistening locks.
Oh, this is a good one. I always say: Never judge a book by its movie.About Schmidt is one I saw recently, and the only resemblance to the book is the name Schmidt. I was really aggravated by that.
I loved the book Remains of the Day but the movie didn't catch the mood, the repetitive plodding mood, of the butler, even though Hopkins was as usual wonderful.
Mark, good call on Remains of the Day. I loved the ending of the book - the butler's conversation with the stranger was just the right way to end the novel. But the movie decides to go with a clumsy visual metaphor involving a bird trapped in the house. If I remember right, the movie also had this very dramatic music which did not seem fitting to the story.
I haven't chimed in to this thread much - primarily because (as I've been told many times) I've never met a movie I didn't like. Which, by the way, isn't entirely true. However, I've always considered them such different forms that I can usually separate the two and find good (or bad) in both.But, after giving it some thought, I'll say this:
A Handmaid's Tale was a woeful adaptation of the book and, considering the cast, a pretty bad movie overall. Not unwatchable (by my standards anyway) but pretty underwhelming.
Breakfast at Tiffany's. I'm a Capote fan and read the book years before I saw the movie. I adore the book and was completely appalled at what they did to my lovely story when making the movie. That said, if you watch the movie having never read the book, it's delightful.
So, there's my 2 cents.
When my niece was little, she had a thing for Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Andersen. I bought a copy of his stories and gave it to her. Inside the front cover, I wrote something about how the book is almost always better than the movie. I wanted to inspire her to read (I'm not sure if I succeeded).But there's something to be said for the suggestion earlier about a "Bad Book/Bad Movie" list, and for that list I would like to nominate "The Bridges of Madison County." If ever a worse piece of drivel was put on film, I have yet to hear about it or -- mercifully -- see it. I wish I could say the same for both the film and the book "The Bridges of Madison County."
Nobody else loathed Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow"?Very well, then, I suspect I have enough loathing for everyone. By the time Burton was done with poor Washington Irving's story, the only things that remained were the names. Johnny Depp was loathsome, and the entire inane Freudian subplot with Ichabod Crane's mother made me want to throw things.
There were two good things about that movie--Christina Ricci's boobs. Other than that, it sucked rabid swamp rats.
Jammies you have just summed up more succinctly than I ever could why I am so nervous that Mr. Burton is making a movie of Sweeney Todd. Granted, it's not really a book so maybe it doesn't belong here, but I've seen what he's done with other stories. Don't mess this up, Burton, or I'm coming for you with my nearly worn out tape of a 1978 Broadway performance of Sweeney Todd. We're going to watch it, and I'll tell you exactly where you went wrong, frame for frame. That goes for you too, Depp.
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Books I Loathed
Books mentioned in this topic
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (other topics)Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (other topics)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (other topics)
The Fellowship of the Ring (other topics)
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