Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Films

Related: TV discussion forum.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Am I being unreasonable to think if you make a film of a book...

113 replies

vvviola · 11/09/2015 23:15

.... you should actually use the story of the book?!

I just watched Child 44. They ruined it. Took away the whole central premise of the book.

I should know better by now, I don't think I've ever been impressed with the film version of a book except maybe To Kill a Mockingbird

OP posts:
wigglesrock · 12/09/2015 11:49

I watched Child 44 a few weeks ago, I was so disappointed I really enjoyed the book. And it was woefully miscast - Tom Hardy? Tbh I just couldn't get past him and the accents. I could rant all day.

JaceLancs · 12/09/2015 12:08

My biggest disappointment ever was the film made of a favourite and poignant book I read when very young "that was then - this is now"
It was about two half brothers who had a very mixed up relationship, it was full of teen angst which I could really relate to and had an ending which left things hanging but was fairly negative
The film version turned it into a schmaltzy tale of brotherly love - I waited desperately for the end where it would become all meaningful and was devastated when they turned it into a happy ending
40+ years on it still rankles........

MmeGuillotine · 12/09/2015 12:52

I knew this was going to be about Child 44 before I opened it! Grin

I actually loved the film but then read the book afterwards and felt like, the ADONIS that is Tom Hardy aside, it had been tarnished somewhat as the book is SO much better! I still think the film is alright but yeah I wish they'd stuck to the book plot a lot more as it was brilliant.

Having said that, I'm about half way through the third book in the series now and am really hoping that they attempt a film of The Secret Speech as I think it might translate much better plus it means more Tom Hardy being all brooding and Russian and disaffected.

BoyFromTheBigBadCity · 12/09/2015 16:16

I also dislike the hp films. The Hobbit films are far too ott for me - it (for me) has lost a lot of the charm of the book. Though Lord of the rings I do prefer - the humour lifts it which isn't in the book. With me it's game of thrones. They are different, but parts of it just don't sit right with me.

On hunger games, I like that she ends up wih Peeta. Gale was too warlike and removed in some ways, and she'd been that pawn for the greater good, and couldn't be with someone who didn't get that.

WhatTheJeffHasGoneOnHere · 12/09/2015 16:28

The Lovely Bones is one of my favourite books but I was so disappointed in the film. It was like they spent all the budget on the scenery and imagery but forgot to read the story first. They missed out so much!

syne · 12/09/2015 17:51

trainspotting was done well in my opinion, filth not so much but that was to be expected.

However, NOTHING can ever be worse than the travesty that is the casting of teeny tiny tom cruse as Jack Reacher. Seriously, it makes me cross, still.

OrangeFluff · 12/09/2015 20:21

Agree syne Trainspotting was a great adaption, not seen or read Filth though.

I'd add FightClub to the list of films that are better than the book.

I love the Harry Potter books, the films are OK. My biggest gripe with the films is when... SPOILERS... Snape kills Dumbledore, Harry just hides and watches it happen. Whaaat!? The Harry that I knew would've never done that! In the books he is under his invisibility cloak unable to move because of Dumbledores spell. He was desperate to stop Snape. I know it wouldn't have looked great on film to have an invicible, completely still Harry, but it didn't sit right with his character for me.

alexpolistigrakia · 12/09/2015 20:28

The Bourne Trilogy.

The only thing the films have in common with the books are the names, much to my disappointment. Why couldn't they have called the films something else?! I enjoyed the books.

nooka · 12/09/2015 20:30

Generally I prefer the HP films to the books, but that's mostly because I think that the books could have done with a lot of editing and aren't actually that good (heresy I know!). I'd not be particularly inclined to rewatch them, but then the books are one of the few children's fantasy series that I didn't want to reread.

For me the worst book to film adaptation I've seen is Mrs Doubtfire. I love Anne Fine's black humour and the horribly shmaltzy hollywood adaptation made me squirm so much I really wanted to walk out.

The Hunger Games very much needed to not have a 'happy ending' it wouldn't have been true to the story at all. I think that the end is just right, sad with a touch of hope. If the films mess that up I'd be really pissed off.

SacredHeart · 12/09/2015 20:39

YY orange on fight club film surpassing the book.
A scanner darkly was fantastic adaptation of a book. Similarly Blade runner was a great adaptation of do androids dream of electric sheep.

The other end of the spectrum

Children of men - The movie butchered the book.
Jurassic park a lost world - why oh why did they ruin it!
The Hollywood version of pride and prejudice - only the Colin Firth BBC version will do.

shouldIapply · 12/09/2015 20:43

The version of Lady Chatterley's Lover that was on last week was pretty inaccurate. I guess it's a book that's not read much but everyone thinks they know what it's about so as long as you get the lady shagging the gamekeeper it's fine.

A film doesn't have to be accurate to the plotline of the book to still be a good adaption, The English Patient is very different to the book but still brilliant. It had a change of emphasis that added to the book.

Welshmaenad · 12/09/2015 20:46

I thought The Help was a great film adaptation of a book, they usually disappoint me hugely.

MrsFionaCharming · 12/09/2015 20:52

I can only think of one film which was changed for the better - Stardust. This might be because I watched the film first, but the book didn't have some of the best bits !

Thisismyfirsttime · 12/09/2015 20:56

Katniss and Gale in HG?! Really?! I'm shocked that people think that, no way could I see them ending up together. (I wanted to say a lot more than that but am wary of posting spoilers.)
HP films were utterly shit. They took away all the small but very relevant bits of storyline that made the reader really believe that Harry was a real member of the Weasley family, that Dudley could have really cared for Harry all along in his own way and the Harry/ Dumbledore relationship made no sense.

CharleyDavidson · 12/09/2015 21:01

I prefered the film of Stardust to the book, because there just wasn't much to the book. I have enjoyed the Lord of the Rings books but found that they had soooo much in them that I preferred the shorter telling of the films. Then was amazed that they could drag The Hobbit out so much.

annandale · 12/09/2015 21:09

Moneyball is a good read but the film is MUCH better and a central plank in my contention that Brad Pitt is a really underrated actor (see also: Burn After Reading).

I'm reading Foxcatcher at the mo which I'm quite enjoying but I have a feeling the film may be a lot better. Annoying as the reason I got the book out of the library was to avoid paying to see the film.

Films made of stories or very precise nonfiction (not big massive history works) have a chance to be better as they can amplify something small and well turned into a much bigger narrative. I hate short stories so I've never read the stories behind Out of Africa or Strangers on a Train, for example.

Sazzle41 · 12/09/2015 21:31

I am so with you. Often main events which explain/add to plot or character are just dumped willy nilly. The Go Between is coming to BBC 1 as a series. My heart sank tbh. The 70's film of the book with Julie Christie & Alan Bates (phwoar factor off the scale) was so visually stunning , true to the book, perfect casting, I cant bear to watch. The Marian in the ad looks like a teenager, nothing like the book description/Julie Christie who was mesmerising. It won BAFTAs and so did its music by Michel LeGrand (who did the soundtrack of Summer of 42, also a stunning film true to book):

If you love a dark story of forbidden love (lady of the manor promised to an aristo but in love with a handsome local farmer) and the devastating fall out:

TheMotherOfHellbeasts · 12/09/2015 21:33

Agree that Gone With The Wind was better in the film version. Apocalypse Now was better than Heart Of Darkness too (IMHO).

The only books of which I have liked adored the films equally as much are the Twilight Saga.

SlowlyGoingINSAINIA · 12/09/2015 21:41

I thought Perfume was quite a good film, not sure how they could have done it any better.

Meeting Evil is a good book, the film is shit though.

ihatethecold · 12/09/2015 21:44

I'm hoping that they don't crucify Bill Brysons "A walk in the woods"
I love that book.

I also thought The time travellers wife was like the book.

Charley50 · 12/09/2015 21:49

I think we need to talk about Kevin is a brilliant book and brilliant film. Have read/watched both a couple of times.
I also loved the book AND the film, 'never let me go.' Although because I'd read the book and knew the ending I cried uncontrollably through the film.

SnobblyBobbly · 12/09/2015 21:54

P.S I Love You irritates the hell out of me. I really enjoyed the book, but not only did they move the setting from Ireland to America, they then used an American actor to play the only main Irish character! Gerard Butlers terrible accent completely ruined it for me.

Ceic · 12/09/2015 21:56

The Horse Whisperer - I read this for the first time this year and the ending made me so very VERY cross! I could see lots of fallout coming up but the remainder of the book was far too thin to deal with it. I knew it was going to be a cop-out but still...Angry Not seen the film but I read online that it had a very different ending - thank fuck.

I agree with PP that the HP films are not great at following the story of the books nor the world in which they are set. And I also agree that the books were poorly edited too.

CharleyDavidson · 12/09/2015 21:57

Ihate... I've seen the trailer and i have a nasty suspicion it's going to be a bad movie. I'm still going though, because I love the book.

One I won't watch though, is The Dark Is Rising. When you change the age, ethnicity and generally ALL the details of the main character, it's not a good start.

YellowJerseyPan · 12/09/2015 22:02

Howards End.

In the film Henry doesn't die (which was a bit central to the spirit of the book) and Margaret doesn't get to say " I will make you see the connection if it kills you."

Glossy and star-studied but just so wrong.