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Movies that don't live up to the book

232 replies

Magicalmrmistofeles · 06/06/2015 21:31

Everyone thinks I'm weird, I don't do movies. The books are so much better...

I'm trying to watch Gone Girl now but god it's shit, the book wasn't great and now I'm bored.

OP posts:
nocutsnobuttsnococonuts · 07/06/2015 16:51

I really enjoyed the book warm bodies but film was awful.

agree about golden compass I was so looking forward to the film and it was awful.

I really enjoyed the series true blood and the direction it took and ending. the books irritated me in the end couldn't stand how the characters developed. now refuse to read any of her other books.

vampire diaries - very teenagy books (struggled to read it was so awful) but I quite enjoyed the series.

and no-one has mentioned benjamin button - interesting short story but the film dragged on for hours it was painful to watch! !

rookiemere · 07/06/2015 16:51

Yes to HHGTTG - I so loved the series when I was a DC, it was the first LP I bought ( back in days of yore when series were only available on records).

Bit like modern adaptation of The Great Gatsby, all fluff and no substance, but then when I started re-reading the book, which I'd loved as a teenager studying it for A-level, I discovered that the book wasn't much better.

rookiemere · 07/06/2015 16:53

Benjamin Button - quite frankly I'm still trying to erase that film from my memory. It's 10 hrs of my life I will never get back. Sadly even if the story was the best book in the world ever, I could never bring myself to read it due to the emotions it would provoke.

DramaInPyjamas · 07/06/2015 16:54

Love 'About A Boy' (book) so much, the film version is ok, but a completely different story imo.

woodhill · 07/06/2015 17:04

the Hitchhikers guide was very different to the series and book but may have been my memory

FiveExclamations · 07/06/2015 17:16

Douglas Adams, as far as I remember, was heavily involved in all previous incarnations of HHGthG and had been trying to get a film sorted for years and years before he died. He just couldn't reach agreement with any of the production companies who tried, so I do wonder about the fact the film finally got made after his death.

It had Stephen Fry, Martin Freeman, Alan Rickman and Bill Bailey, it should have been something awesome to behold.

SylvaniansAtEase · 07/06/2015 17:20

Atonement - so much left out. Inevitable, I suppose.

MisguidedAngel · 07/06/2015 17:25

I hate most films of books I like (agree especially with Time Traveller's Wife and what about The Magus - Michael Caine as a public school boy!). But two films stand out for me as being not better but as good as the book. Another John Fowles - The French Lieutenant's Woman; such a clever way of achieving the two alternative endings of the book. And Rosemary's Baby - even the clothes were exactly the same as in the book and Mia Farrow was perfect as Rosemary.

rookiemere · 07/06/2015 17:42

Just thought of one where the film was as good if not better than the book - The Shining.

Hoppityhippityhop · 07/06/2015 17:45

Has anyone said The Dark is Rising yet? Love that book and all the others in the series. It is such a gripping tale that I have read it over and over again, even in adulthood. The film, however, was an absolute shocker. All the characters were changed, the main family became American which ruined things. Main characters from the book seemed like afterthoughts in the film. The central purpose of the main character of the book lost all urgency and significance in the film. The film is rubbish.

KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes · 07/06/2015 17:47

Bridget Jones.

The books are classic.

The films are meh and miss out the best parts of the books.

DeidreChambersWhatACoincidence · 07/06/2015 17:55

Agree wholeheartedly about Starter for Ten. Such a funny book, how could they have made such an awful film??

Another upset for me was Bag of Bones by Stephen King. Brilliant scary book, naff straight to daytime TV film. Aargh.

I hadn't even realised there was a film of The Magus. Given that it's one of my favourite books I don't think I could bear to watch it.

irretating · 07/06/2015 18:02

Has anyone said The Dark is Rising yet?

Hoppity, what happened to that book was a travesty. I switched off after a short while, couldn't bear to watch anymore. Sad

VivaLeBeaver · 07/06/2015 18:06

I watched Wild last night. Had really enjoyed the book but was disappointed by the film.

expatinscotland · 07/06/2015 18:14

All of them.

nocoolnamesleft · 07/06/2015 18:40

Agree that Princess Bride is about the only film I can think of that is significantly better than the book. Superb film.

irretating · 07/06/2015 18:47

I thought that the film version of Stardust was better than the book.

awombwithaview · 07/06/2015 19:09

P.S I love you

The book was beautiful, both myself and DH read it and loved it. The film just bloody slaughtered it. The whole point is her DH writes her letters for after he has died and that is so beautiful....in the film her mum says SHE wrote the letters to pull her daughter through. Horrific use of poetic license there. Plus the actress was a muppet throughout and the phony Irish accent Gerrard Butler uses just made me cringe. I could go on, but that is the worst adaptation ever.

I think the BBC often do brilliant adaptations - notably the 90s version of Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth was word for word true to the book; I studied it and was impressed with how closely they'd stuck to the book. The Keira Knightley version was bloody awful with glaring inaccuracies and contradictions.

MrsFring · 07/06/2015 19:12

Not a film but the TV adaptation of Birdsong was a travesty. The brooding, enigmatic Stephen Wraysford played by freckly posh-boy Redmayne??

They took modern classic and turned it into arse-sandwich. Pah.

Smoolett · 07/06/2015 19:14

The time travellers wife. Its already been mentioned, book was brilliant but the film was utter rubbish

RussellTheLoveMuscle · 07/06/2015 19:37

Captain Corelli for me too, one of my favourite books but the film is dire. Also Hitchcock's adaptation of Jamaica Inn, I ended up throwing it across the room. Wtf with cutting out major characters then making up new ones? I'm looking at you too Peter Jackson...Hmm

SylvaniansAtEase · 07/06/2015 20:07

Oh God the Dark is Rising!

Just - NO.

Didn't watch more than 15 minutes. Just unbelievable.

Jux · 07/06/2015 20:11

Golden Compass. The only thing you can do is pretend that it is nothing to do with the book and then it's OK. DH didn't read the books (I'd only read it as bedtime story to dd) and he enjoyed the film a lot - liked the special effects.

I thought the books were pretty crap tbh, but dd, who was about 10 atthe time we read them (yes, I would read to her every day until she was about 13, it was nice), enjoyed them; gave rise to lots of thought.

limitedperiodonly · 07/06/2015 20:22

The book of Birdsong was a travesty mrsFring.

I fucking hated it.

Posho Eddie Frecklefaced Puffy Lips could not have made it worse if he'd tried.

It ties for my Worst Wankiest Book Wanky Film Adaptation Of All Time with London Fields which has just been filmed with Johnny Depp and his girlfriend in the leading roles.

I haven't seen it but I confidently predict it will be a pile of wank.

Next place is Never Let Me Go.

I hated the book. I hated the film.

ImADonkeyOnTheEdge · 07/06/2015 20:35

I have never ever seen a movie that lived up to the book.

Either they bugger about with the story, or maybe my imagination is just better!