Movies that don't live up to the book

[Magicalmrmistofeles]

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.

The Bonfire of the Vanities - the book is a brilliant, witty, viciously targeted satire, and the book is a cartoonishly unengaging failed attempt at a farce.

All the Harry Potter films. Seriously, they're massively popular books so why muck about with them so much? Gave up after the second film.
The Hobbit - it's all been said. Just. Crap.
Ben Elton wrote a great book about the difficulties of infertility called Inconceivable. They made a film called Maybe Baby. A lovely book turned into saccharine bilge water.
If we're going to include TV adaptions as well I put forward the BBC version of The Woman In White made in the late 90s. They'd clearly not bothered reading the book and the series The Dome. I died of boredom in the middle of episode two.

Ok, so the Beach isn't a great book but it's very entertaining, funny and a page turner but the film was woeful. Sad, as I generally really like Danny Boyle (watched Millions on Saturday, sob)

Latest Thomas hardy adaptation. Far from the Madding Crowd. Great book truly awful film with ? muligan

All of them.

We need to talk about Kevin
A kiss before dying

The worst two I can think of

Agree wholeheartedly with misguidedangel about Rosemary's Baby, fantastic film adaptation. Perfectly cast.

I thought gone girl was better as a film but then the book was bloody awful so perhaps not hard.

When I heard that Tom Cruise was jack reacher I was outraged but it's very difficult to imagine who could have pulled off the role better. The point of JR is that he has this enormous charisma and like or loathe TC I think you get a bit of that in the film.

The Talented Mr Ripley. I had always imagined Tom Cruise in that role. Book was so exciting but Jude Law (in his prime then) was a consolation prize as the other lead.
Seeing a film first spoils a book but watching a film afterwards never seems to live up to the book.

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Both films especially the sinister Depp ruined a fantastic story.

"Pride & Predjudice with Keira Knightly."

Agreed - awful. I think that most really good books translate badly into films. Great books are complex and subtle - and that gets lost in a film because you just have to condense so much. You could never really do justice to P&P in a 2 or 3 hour film - it needs the full six hours of the tv adaptation. Or look at The Great Gatsby - its qualities lie in the distinctive narrative voice, which is lost in the film versions. The characters are all enigmatic - once you've made them into flesh and blood you've lost all the suggestiveness of the narrative.

"To lower the tone a bit, the DC and I were hugely disappointed by the Percy Jackson films. I wanted to see them get as far as book 5, which would be great on film, but they made a total hash of it."
The Lightning Thief actually made my daughter cry, she was so disappointed. (And she was a teenager, not a young child, at the time.)
Staying in the same genre; InkHeart, which is part of what is - in my opinion - one of the best children's trilogies ever, was a disaster. With the very notable exception of Paul Bettany, perfectly cast as the lovely, lovely Dustfinger.

The KK Pride and Prejudice is a triumph of fidelity compared with the Laurence Olivier one in which they a) put them in crinolines because they think it looks better b) they don't go to Pemberley! c) Lady Catherine's visit at the end devised by Darcy in order to test whether Lizzie is a gold digger!!!!!! Not enough wrong in the world, and a total failure to grasp what makes Darcy's character so strong.

I don't think anyone has mentioned Winter's Tale yet..? Really enjoyed the awfully long but still captivating book. But the film - NONONONONONONO! It killed it for me!

The Giver - book was AMAZING! I've only watched a bit of the film. Utterly terrible. Had to turn it off so it wouldn't spoil my perception.

Memoirs of a Geisha was barely watchable (visually very nice but so much story and emotion lost in translation).

So glad my favourite author (Carlos Ruiz Zafon) will never agree to his trilogy being adapted for the big screen

I rather enjoyed the Golden Compass film, but haven't read the book - I really must make an effort if you all think it's much better than the film.

And yet the TV P&P shows that it CAN be done, can't it? I love the scene where Mr Darcy and Lizzie finally get together - no falling into each other's arms, they just hang back a bit on a group walk so they can talk privately and when they both admit their true feelings there's a lovely pause where they both take a breath and it's as if the clouds clear away and the sun comes out. No snogging, no tears, just a real sense of happiness emanating from them both.

Bedelia, if you haven't read His Dark Materials you're in for a treat! The film is a pale shadowy imitation of the real thing.

Jack Reacher: One Shot by Lee Child.
I loved the book, it was a real page turner with some interesting characters, but the film was such a disappointment. Putting aside Tom Cruise being short and Jack Reacher being 6'5", it was the fact the film missed out about half the characters and a lot of the really gripping stuff, such as altering the rescue scene at the end. The only highlight of the film for me was the gorgous Jai Cortney.

Percy fucking Jackson! Oh My GOD! If I know there is a book version of a fantasy film coming out (which is nearly always), I will read the book first. I read the first one, thought it was pretty decent, and I read the second one.

Then I made the almighty mistake of watching the film. Holy fuckballs, it was so terrible it put me off the series of books!
Seriously, how can you leave out major plotlines like that excuse for a film did? What about the fucking tree?
Percy's meant to be 12 not 18 too for fuck sake.

I've never been more fucking offended!

Read the rest of the Percy Jackson books, they're worth it. (I love children's books.)

The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, turned into a total pile of drivel starring Sandra Bullock. Awful.

Charlotte Gray aka 'Ello Ello. Travesty

I have never seen a movie that has been as good as the book.

Not sure if mentioned as I haven't RTFT, but loved Water for Elephants as a book. Really enjoyed the film but its just not as good

'Bikini Babes, volume 3'- film was definitely better than the book.

I agree with you all about films like The Golden Compass, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, even the Harry Potter books and many others. But I think over the years I've learned to treat adaptations of books into film or tv as a totally different genre. I agree it's frustrating when they change endings for no obvious reason or even crucial details, but on the other hand trying to squeeze books, especially long ones, into short 2-hour movies just has to be different. I love all the different adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and some of the innovative teen movies of Shakespeare.
My first post by the way, so hi to everyone [hello]