Ever like the Movie Better than the Book?

[[deleted user]]

Which movie Tish?

[Jaime]

I did not like The Notebook the movie...yes I know, how did I not like it?...girls are always shocked when I say that. I just did not think it was as great as everyone makes it out to be...

My friend made me read the book though and I did like it better...

[Nikki]

Wonder Boys is a fantastic book and movie. There are some differences, but that is par for the course when turning a novel into a screenplay.

[Tisha]

Jeremy, P.S. I Love You.

I meant that as an answer to your question, not as a stand-alone statement. Just thought I should clarify.

[Melissa]

Melissa, I absolutely LOVE the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but am not sure whether I will like the book.

Sometimes it's hard for me to read the book after I've seen the movie. That's kind of the problem I am currently having with The Other Boleyn Girl. I saw the movie a few months ago and am now reading the book -- because I saw the movie already, I am constantly waiting for something that happened in the movie to happen in the book, so I get overly anxious for certain things and start to get bored with the book.

[Melissa]

Tisha, yes accents. I'm particularly vulnerable to Scottish and Irish.

[[deleted user]]

Aww Tish, I love you, too!

Oh, errr, that's embarassing.

[Tisha]

LOL!

[Belinda]

To Emma and Abigail, I have to disagree. While Fight Club, the film, was amazing, I preferred the ending of the book. He'd become as bad as everything he always hated and Tyler didn't win.

...or did he?

[Belinda]

Oh, and I love Apocalypse Now, but detest Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.'

[Charity]

Holy Spoiler Batman!!

[Emma]

I agree with you Belinda, but think that the reason I might have disliked Heart of Darkness was that I just didn't understand it. I was too young to appreciate it when I first read it but am really curious to revisit it with older eyes.

Oh, and one more vote for Lord of the Rings.

[Renee]

Melissa
Empire Falls was wonderful - Hollywood did not mess up this book to movie! Ed Harris is a fine actor. You will enjoy the movie!

Emma
I was soooo worried about the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's so complex and it's "big" - a grand story in book form. How could anyone translate that successfully and truthfully? No need to worry - I loved it. Peter Jackson was able to recreate Middle Earth and tell the story magnificiently!
BTW - I saw The Return of the King 12 times (8 times with my youngest son - what a brave boy!)

[[deleted user]]

Haven't READ Fight Club YET. Trying to forget what I read in post 60!

[Cynthia]

Chocolat is the one book that really paled in comparison to the movie unfortunately. I loved the movie with Depp and was excited when I found out years later it was based on a book but then was disappointed when I got to read it.

[Tisha]

Thanks for the heads up. I own the movie, but probably won't bother reading the book. I have heard that same review from various people.

[Sharron]

Usually I am very disappointed with movies adapted from books. I already have the characters in my mind and it's never the same when I see the movie as it is in my head. One exception was The Hours. I had seen the movie a long time ago. I just read the book. I don't usually read a book after I've seen a movie adaptation. Then I checked the movie out form the library and it just brought everything together for me. I credit the actors, director and screenwriter with creating such an emotional and thoughtful movie. I would say this time it was very much an exception.

[Chloe]

Sharron, I loved the book of The Hours but haven't seen the film yet. I think I know what I'm going to be watching tonight.

[Sharron]

Logan, I'm still torn regarding whether I like the book better or the movie. In thinking it through I believe I like them both together. When I saw the movie the first time, I didn't get emotionally vested in it. When I watched the second time after reading the book it resonated much more. I don't expect this to happen often. Happy movie watching!!

[[deleted user]]

I am still going to give Chocolat a chance because I really liked Five Quarter of the Orange.

[Tisha]

Ok, Jeremy. I will anxiously await your review. :) (then if it's good...I will probably read it)

pressure.

[[deleted user]]

Don't wait too anxously!

[Tisha]

no worries. I have 10,000 other books on my list to hold me over. (as I'm sure you do) :)

we will touch base in 5 years on that book.

[Lisa]

Hmmmm, I remember loving Eight Men Out and really struggling through the book, Shoeless Joe being one of the sympathetic characters.

Also, Jumanji the book was good, but the movie had to have more to it to make it that much longer.

I couldn't bring myself to watch the Polar Express, just wanted to keep the magic of the book.

[Joanie]

I read PS I Love You and liked it but have stayed away from the movie because I've heard they changed it so much. Guess sometimes it's a matter of which you encounter first.

Chocolat is different from the movie but really good-don't fear it!

[Rowena]

I think Tom Clancy and Arthur Hailey books translate well into movies.

[Melissa]

Chocolat I definitely liked the movie better. I couldn't even make it through the book. I tried several times and only made it about 1/3 of the way through. I really wanted to like it, but it just didn't work for me.

[[deleted user]]

I'm thinking Shawshank Redemption cannot possibly be better than Shawshank Redemption but I should give it a try sometime.

Lisa....wasn't Shoeless Joe made into Field of Dreams?

[Chloe]

Jeremy, Different Seasons is the book that has the story of Shawshank in it. It's quite good, but not as good as the film. The book also has the story Stand By Me in it, which I liked a lot more than the movie.

[A.J.]

What about movies that deliberately mock the book?

I was rooting around in the basement the other day and found a book, Ten Canadian Short Plays ... I flipped it open to a random page:

TRELEAVEN'S VOICE: Hullo, 714. How does she handle, George?
SPENCER [disgustedly]: Tell him sluggish, like a wet sponge.
STEWARDESS: Sluggish, like a wet sponge, Vancouver.

Yes, this was the radio play ("Flight Into Danger") that was adapted into Airplane. It was originally a serious radio drama, and the people who bought the film rights used it satirize the play and its entire genre.

That reminds me of Starship Troopers; those who like that movie claim it is a deliberate sendup of Heinlein's politics.

[Dawn Michelle]

For me, it had to be Shopgirl. LOVED the movie. Thought it was brilliant. Searched HIGH and low for the book. Found it and sat down to devour it and HATED it!! It was awful. Just horrible. I was so disappointed.

I find I have to disagree about "The Notebook". It is one of my favorite books. And I didn't like the movie..or aspects of the movie because I really loved the book. And maybe I love the book because I was in the throes of "new love" at the time and I read it and then had my husband-to-be read it while I was away and we both kept journals of how we felt. But I did love the book. And hated HOW they ended the movie (NO spoilers here). Just my opinion.

One book that translated well was The Green Mile. We read that first and then saw the movie and LOVED both. I thought it was a good and faithful adaptation.

[Kristina]

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler was better as a movie than a book. The setting, story and everything just came together really well in the movie, and it was better than I had pictured it while reading the book. Good book, but better as a movie. :)

[Lori]

I liked No Country For Old Men better as a movie than the book. It was true to the book and done so well.

[Lisa]

Jeremy - Eight Men Out was the name of both the book and the movie I meant. Shoeless Joe was in them. They were based on the actual game that the White Soxs threw in the early 1900's. Slow book, better movie.

[Sarenna]

I read the short story Shawshank Redemption and the movie was FAR better than the story. I also read PS I Love You and enjoyed the book and refused to see the movie for reasons mentioned in other posts - I heard it was very different from the book. I heard that about The Other Boleyn Girl as well and have refused to see that movie either.

[Jenny]

Loads of you have said 'The Notebook' but what about 'A Walk to Remember'? I loved loved loved the film, so thought, surely I'll like the book. It was far too cheesy. Give me a cheesy film any day, but a cheesy book no thank you :)

I read Chocolat and have bought the film to watch and now can't wait to watch it seeing as all of you prefered it over the book :)

If I love a film/tv prog I will read reviews of the books first. The Devil Wears Prada and Sex and the City, I just can't bring myself to read the books now. Probably a good thing!

[Diane]

The Human Stain I preferred the movie to the book. Perhaps it had something to do with the casting as well, which I thought was superb, especially Ed Harris.

[Giovanna]

I must say that I loved The Notebook film more than the book. Even though the book was wonderfully romantic, the film was passionate and the chemisty between the actors left my blood tingling.

I can't think of any others. Usually films leave a lot out. However you do get the odd one :)

[[deleted user]]

I've only seen the Notebook but just bought it. I hope I don't regret that!

[Angela]

The Notebook and Atonement were definitely better as movies.

[Melody]

Angela - I agree that The Notebook was a better movie than book. I have recently finished reading Atonement which I enjoyed and looking forward to seeing the movie soon.
Much preferred LOTR movies to the books. Have the whole set at home (my brother gave it to me as a gift years ago) and they are still unread. Have tried many times.
Has anyone read House of Sand and Fog. Saw movie recently and was really blown away. Would like to read book but not sure if it lives up to movie.

[[deleted user]]

I loved LOTR books more then the movies. but Jackson did a wonderful job on the movies. Just some of my favorite parts of the books weren't in the movies.

[The Book Whisperer (aka Boof)]

My favourite film in the whole world (at the moment) is The Painted Veil. It is the most stunning movie and I can watch it over and over. I saw it before I read the book by Somerset Maugham and although I did like the book, it wasn't a patch on the movie.

[Rkomenda]

Hi,
since this is my first post here, I'd like to keep it short.

I liked the movie Fever Pitch (the british one) better than the book. Movies based on Hornbys books usually can't keep up with the books, but this one was great.

[[deleted user]]

Lisa - Eight Men Out is one of my all time favorites. I had no idea there was a book on it. Was it non-fiction or historical fiction?

[Petra X]

French Lieutenant's Woman. Meryl Streep made the film, but to me, the book was just tedious.

[Kathy]

Boof, I agree with you about The Painted Veil movie. It is just spectacular. I usually read the book before seeing the movie, but I didn't here. In fact, I still need to read the book. I want to do so, even though I will probably end up still liking the movie better on this one.

[Kathy]

Another one I have to agree with, Sarenna. Having read the story and seen the movie (multiple times), I choose the movie of the Shawshank Redemption, too.

[Kathy]

Gee, I can't believe that this is another one that I enjoyed the movie more, too. I usually like the book better, but the movie of The Jane Austen Book Club appealed to me more than the book. I think you put it nicely, Kristina, that the movie was just put together very well. The characters' personalities and lives seemed more attainable in the movie.

[Chloe]

I think that I would have to read the book in order to appreciate The Painted Veil properly. I liked the film but wasn't blown away by it, even with two of my favorite actors in it. I've been meaning to get to some Maugham for years.