The boy brought home Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last week, and I must say it's a big improvement on the book. It's got all the main plot bits and none of the boring padding in-between. The stand-off with Voldmort, at the cemetary, was good and scary. The only gripe I have, and this extends to all the Harry Potter movies, is that Hermione is far too pretty. In the book it's a really big deal that she turns up to the ball with straight teeth, no glasses and tamed hair, thanks to a glamour. In the movie all she has to do is wear a slinky dress and put on some makeup.
The Lord of the Rings movies, in the boy's opinion, are also much better than the books. I'd be inclined to agree, except when I tried to read the books I was never able to find Fellowship of the Ring at the library. Starting this story with The Two Towers was every bit as confusing as you'd expect.
What are some other movies which turned out to be better than the books they were based on?
6 comments:
I generally don't read books of movies that I've seen - or see movies of books that I've read - the movies are often a dissapointment. Band of Brothers though was interesting because they are as good as each other - the TV Series was excellent and I can't fault it - but the book had more information, more of the story - but without the TV series I wouldn't have picked up the book.
I have to go the OTHER way and say that the movie version of Stephen King's "Misery" was appalling. `Hobbling' the author instead of cutting off his feet was a dreadful letdown.
I thought the film version of Catch 22 was quite outstanding. Although the book, was of course, pretty good too.
I can't comment on your choices; I loved Band of Brothers on DVD, enjoyed the movie version of Misery and thought the book Catch 22 was brilliant - but never read or watched the respective book/movie.
Some movies are better seen after reading the book, though. I wouldn't have gotten as much out of 2001-A Space Odyssey if I hadn't read the book first.
How about Downfall - the book (Until the Final Hour) was good too, and covered more than just the final 3 weeks of Hitler's Germany, but the film brought out the drama, the reality of living in a bunker with loads of other people and of being bombed night after night, so hard your coffee cup rattles, not to mention the insidious insanity of after-dinner discussions being about how you're going to commit suicide. Not a cheery film, but one which changes you. I wouldn't put the book in that category.
Cathi: I've never seen the movie nor read the book, but I've seen DVD in the shop - I'll try to remember it for next time I go in for a couple of weekend rentals.
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