Best film adaptation of a novel..........

[mb23100]

Generally the movie never does the book justice. Dracula is my favorite novel but imo they have yet to make a decent Dracula movie. Was just wondering if there has ever been a movie that surpasses the book. Shawshank Redemption? Never read it. Game of Thrones? Never read the books either but love the show. I know its not a movie but you know what im saying. Anyway what do you guys think?

 

[breadfighter]

Mortal Kombat

 

[I Am Legion]

Shawshank was better than the read. Misery was really good as well. But my favorite were the Harry Potter movies.

 

[wilKO]

Lord of the Rings

 

[BisexualMMA]

Misery. The screenplay is already better than the book, and then it was executed to near perfection.

 

[Turtlejuice]

Movies shouldn't really do the book justice. They are 2 different art forms that work in different ways. A film should be a retelling of the same story, it should not be the same story. There are cases where a film cannot mirror the book, Cujo is a good example. The book was based on the mental state of a dog as it goes through changes caused by rabies. The film was just about a rabid killer dog. They were both a good book and a good film.

 

[Peteyandjia]

 

[blaseblah]

Jurassic Park
A Clockwork Orange
Die Hard
The Godfather

 

[Strychnine]

Watchmen.

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

Rising Sun

The Princess Bride

 

[Guestx]

I'm going to throw another vote in for Jurassic Park.

I just read it a couple of years ago and, while good, I thought it really lacked the heart of the movie. It was too focused on the science . . . too technical . . . too aloof.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

The english patient

Mystic River

Shutter Island

The Stand

Moby Dick

Treasure Island

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

I'm going to throw another vote in for Jurassic Park.

I just read it a couple of years ago and, while good, I thought it really lacked the heart of the movie. It was too focused on the science . . . too technical . . . too aloof.

Hammond dies in the book.
Well done all around though
With animal effects that hold up today.

 

[blaseblah]

Most of Kubrick's films were based on novels. While I can't say for sure the films are better than the books (I haven't read them) they were obviously way more popular.

 

[Bob Gray]

Jurassic Park
A Clockwork Orange
Die Hard
The Godfather

Spielberg work on adaptations is tough to judge. As far as how well done of an adaptation it is. Jurassic Park, Jaws, etc, are classics, yet don't really follow the books so much. Spielberg is probably too creative to be constrained to a forgone narrative. I mean, you make a classic movie....but it's not a very good adaptation of the story itself, does that mean it's good or bad solely as an adaptation? Deep, philosophical quandary up in here. It's the reason I'm simultaneously absolutely overjoyed he's doing Ready, Player One? yet at the same time there's a hint of bittersweetness to it.

 

[Bob Gray]

Hammond dies in the book.
Well done all around though
With animal effects that hold up today.

I remember the last half of the book or so being pretty much completely different. Even all this time later that movie is on my "Anywhere, Anytime, Any goddamn day" list.

 

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

I remember the last half of the book or so being pretty much completely different.

It's pretty different but plot wise IIRC the biggest change is Hammond living

 

[badascan]

2001 being the best film ever made makes it a great adaptation of the book...

 

[Bob Gray]

I'm going to throw another vote in for Jurassic Park.

I just read it a couple of years ago and, while good, I thought it really lacked the heart of the movie. It was too focused on the science . . . too technical . . . too aloof.

That's kinda how Crichton was. When it works it's fantastic. Jurrasic Park, Sphere and Congo are incredible reads, imo. Strange that it took The Beard Himself to actually get a good movie out of any of them.

It's sort of ironic, too, that Sphere is practically a dead accurate adaptation, yet somehow doesn't work. Whereas Spielberg goes way off the narrative with JP and knocks it out of the park.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Spielberg work on adaptations is tough to judge. As far as how well done of an adaptation it is. Jurassic Park, Jaws, etc, are classics, yet don't really follow the books so much. Spielberg is probably too creative to be constrained to a forgone narrative. I mean, you make a classic movie....but it's not a very good adaptation of the story itself, does that mean it's good or bad solely as an adaptation? Deep, philosophical quandary up in here. It's the reason I'm simultaneously absolutely overjoyed he's doing Ready, Player One? yet at the same time there's a hint of bittersweetness to it.

Jaws is a good book, but one of the best movies ever made. Like with Misery, the film separated the wheat from the chaff and just filmed the wheat.