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I rented the DVD "Atonement" from my local library the other day, even though I didn't much care for the book.
I figured what the heck, it's free. And omg I am so glad that I did. I loved it, I have not been able to get it out of my head for days now.
You always hear people saying, and I've said it many times myself: "The book was better than the movie." But, every once in a while, the movie wins.
So for what it's worth, I decided to come up with a list of movies (and I was kinda surprised at how many I could think of actually) that out shined the books they were based on.
1.) "Atonement"The book bored me to tears. It goes on and on and on through ultra-long sentences, ultra-long paragraphs, and ultra-long scenes, explaining not just what a character is thinking, but how it connects to what she/he thought in the past and will think in the future. Ugh. Needless to say things get extremely wordy and dense. The film was absolutely gorgeous, well paced (again worth mentioning-unlike the book!) touching and sad. The ending really packed an emotional punch,
2.)"The Godfather"
Have you actually read the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo that some believe became one of the greatest movies ever made? I'm not even sure I've read the entire book. If memory serves me right, some kids in my 5th grade class passed around a copy because of one silly sex scene in it. But the book was just way too long, with too many characters and too much to keep track of. It's not bad. But no disrespect — it's no Godfather.
3.) "Jaws"The movie: Scared people off beaches for years. The book-Flat. For obvious reasons; the shark is not as scary in the book and it actually played a small roll in the book, it was really more about the characters. And I was just was not very impressed with it. I thought the middle sagged quite a bit and really didn't like the way the author Peter Benchley went with the main character. I never really connected with him.
4.)"The Shining" I saw the movie first many years ago, before I even became a Stephen King fan. To be honest it with you, I wasn't even aware at the time that it was based on one of his books. Honest!
SideNote:I read somewhere that Stephen King hated this movie. At first he was was flattered that director Stanley Kubrick was going to make something out of his works. But later on he said it is the only adaptation of one his novels that he could "remember hating". Ouch!
Anyway, when I did finally get around to reading the novel, I was a lil let down by it.King's The book's premise in Stephen King's own words, "just a little story about writer's block". Um yeah, ad nauseum. Even as a die hard fan I must say like many of his novels it is way too long. By the way, in the new famous "Here's Johnny" scene it was a mallet in the book not an ax!
Admit it, it's alot scarier seeing a Dad go bananas with an ax rather than a mallet. No? O.K well, maybe that's just me.
Red Rum!
5.)“The Wizard of Oz” The first of 14 books (yep 14!) published in 1890. Many political analysts have interpreted the book as a metaphor for the political, economic and social events of America of the 1890s. Deep.
I don't know about all that, but what I do know is the book (and I'm referring to only the 1st one here) is just o.k.
In all fairness to L. Frank Baum, whose works are now classics, how could his own storytelling compete with Judy Garland, one eye-popping set after another and “Over the Rainbow”? Not to mention those to die for ruby slippers!
SideNote: Did you know that in the original story, Dorothy's slippers are silver not ruby as they are in the 1939 MGM film.
Sorry, Mr. Baum, but your silver slippers are sooo 1900.
Oh let's not forget pissed off looking munchkins. 'Nuff said.
6.)"Jurassic Park"
What's better than big, humongous dinosaurs? Big, humongous dinosaurs that eat people, of course!
But to make Michael Crichton's long, detailed, and at times very textbook sounding "Jurassic Park", into a box office hit, a big time director, was surely needed. Thank goodness for all of us, Steven Spielberg answered that call.
So the moral of the story here (no pun intended- but cute.) Even though it's usually the other way around-
Great movies, sometimes do come from not so great books. |
Posted by oxyjen on Aug 12, 2010
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