The movie that didn't make it for you

[Grandpa]

There are movies that hold to the book and also tell their own tale very well.

• Example: LA Confidential. I didn't read Ellroy's original works, but he embraced the movie, so who am I to argue?

There are movies that don't hold to the book but tell their own tale well.

• Example: Lord of the Rings. I guess. I thought it did okay, but I have LOTR geek friends who sneer at the movie. Lighten up and enjoy it for what it is, I say, and Tom Bombadil deserved his removal.

• Possible example, although I hate to say it: Starship Troopers. It took the functional structure of the Heinlein world and made it dystopian fascism. And it excluded a fascinating mainstay of the book, the powered suits. However, friends tell me that it was fine on its own as science fiction. I guess. Ten minutes into the movie, and all I could think of Heinlein doing the gyro thing in his grave (and if you read the book, you know that means "gyroscope" and not the Greek sandwich).

And then there are movies that are nicely faithful to the original story but don't tell a very good tale themselves.

• Example.......

Okay, nothing's coming to mind at the moment.

But there are movies which utterly defile their origins while at the same time serve up a heaping pile of muck and manure for entertainment value.

• Example: Dune. The original themes were treated like yesterday's roughage, while the movie itself was an incomprehensible mess.

So the point, for those of you who were wondering when I'd get there, which is probably everyone who's read it this far:


What movie adaptation did you think failed at every level, from book to booking? Extra cookies for SK references.

 

[skimom2]

It is only very loosely based on a short story, but I'll take every chance to vent my absolute loathing for "A.I." I love movies, and couldn't even begin to catalog the ones I've seen in the last decade, let alone in almost 5 decades (lol), but I've never seen one I despised more than that one.

 

[Grandpa]

I must include "I, Robot" in the category of movies that didn't hold to the book but were okay. We like Will Smith, and we thought the story was decent, but it was nothing like what I remembered of Asimov's original series. But at least his estate got some income, I hope.

 

[mjs9153]

Those who think the LOTR wasn't well done are way too anal about it,did they want every last reference? On the other hand, I enjoyed immensely the Harvard lampoon book send up of the trilogy, Bored of the Rings..from the wizard Goodgulf Grayteeth,to Frito and Spam,and Stomper the Ranger,had me chuckling from the get go..movies by and large rarely live up to their book beginnings,it seems..

 

[Grandpa]

I remember reading "Bored of the Rings" circa 1976!

However, I'm not a fair judge, and i couldn't appreciate it fully because I read LOTR after I read the lampoon. It was actually the original Bakshi cinematic adaptation, which I thought was quite visually inventive while dreadful in the storytelling, which lead me to read the books to get a glimmer of sense of what was going on..

 

[skimom2]

I remember reading "Bored of the Rings" circa 1976!

However, I'm not a fair judge, and i couldn't appreciate it fully because I read LOTR after I read the lampoon. It was actually the original Bakshi cinematic adaptation, which I thought was quite visually inventive while dreadful in the storytelling, which lead me to read the books to get a glimmer of sense of what was going on..

Yep, Bakshi got me with his LORD OF THE RINGS, too. I sort of liked the movie and tried the books in HS, but didn't really like them until I read them as an adult.

I do like the movies, though. Jackson did a bang up job of distilling the essence of the story and jettisoning some of Tolkein's ramble (yep, Tom Bombadil fits there) and fascination with arcane language and sentence structure.

 

[The Nameless]

Wow, 5 answers and The Shining has not popped up yet, usually takes quite a bashing from this place (not me though). I don't watch too many movies, I didn't like the movie for The Langoliers, but loved the story, but I think that was more to do with the acting as opposed to the story telling.

 

[Grandpa]

Wow, 5 answers and The Shining has not popped up yet, usually takes quite a bashing from this place (not me though). I don't watch too many movies, I didn't like the movie for The Langoliers, but loved the story, but I think that was more to do with the acting as opposed to the story telling.

I was avoiding SK movies in deference to the honorable fan base chiming in here.

I would say that the TV series of the Dead Zone was just marginally faithful to the book while still weaving a good tale on its own.

I didn't know what to think of Kubrick's Shining after watching it. I was trying to figure out if it was the work of genius or a bovine alimentary canal. Kubrick can do that sometimes.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

I enjoyed The Shining w/Jack Nicholson, my first exposure to anything SK and I am truly baffled by those who do not like the movie. I think those who suggest a movie follow the book's narrative line exactly are off their rocker. The Tommyknockers now...someone needs to take the director or whom-so-ever out behind the barn and whip them. WTH were they thinking! In the story, the spaceship was awesome, huge! Not some Smurf village...you had those actors poking around those cardboard boxes...looked like Dawn of the Dead although I've never seen that movie. (Oatmeal/raisin, please.)

 

[GNTLGNT]

...The Shining was celluloid vomit....

 

[arista]

Riding the silver bullet.

 

[Out of Order]

Deep Throat

 

[AchtungBaby]

I enjoyed The Shining w/Jack Nicholson, my first exposure to anything SK and I am truly baffled by those who do not like the movie. I think those who suggest a movie follow the book's narrative line exactly are off their rocker. The Tommyknockers now...someone needs to take the director or whom-so-ever out behind the barn and whip them. WTH were they thinking! In the story, the spaceship was awesome, huge! Not some Smurf village...you had those actors poking around those cardboard boxes...looked like Dawn of the Dead although I've never seen that movie. (Oatmeal/raisin, please.)

This. The novel was so good (a very unpopular opinion, I know) so to see what became of it in that mini-series kills me a little inside. However, it's so laughably bad that I confess to watching it from time to time.

 

[Bryan James]

While I prefer the book, I liked The Shining movie (not so much the version with that dude from the sitcom).

There was so much dead space that it made me think of all sorts of things that didn't happen.

But I also like the movie Dune, maybe because it was the last movie I watched in a theater with my Dad. The book was a clusterfork, too, and it is in my library donation box (if I ever get over there again) after about 5 reads. I couldn't sludge through any of the followups, kinda like I quickdropped The Silmarillion.

 

[skimom2]

So many bad King adaptations to choose from...
Lawnmower Man was possibly the worst.
Graveyard Shift--boring (to me) story, boring movie
Children of the Corn (and all of the sequels)-decent story, stupid movie
Sometimes they Come Back (ditto)-ditto again

One I thought was well done was the story Quitters, Inc. I think it was one of the stories in Cat's Eye, but it could have been in one of the other anthology movies. James Woods played the protag so very, very well.

 

[ghost19]

I like the movie adaptation of "The Dead Zone" quite a bit. Of course, the book is bad ass to the Nth degree, but I thought Christopher Walken pulled off the role of Johnny Smith pretty well. The mysterious, somewhat somber musical score in the movie helped it a lot, I think, although I really don't know why. It's always been one of my favorite adaptations. On a completely unrelated note, I got to thinking the other night as I was reading The Shining, one of the things I truly love about Mr. King's older novels is the absence of cell phone/internet technology. There is something grand about reading about characters who can't yank out their cell phone or tablet and spoil the story. I'm not knocking modern technology, I'm as much married to my iphone as anyone else is nowadays, but the nostalgic feeling I get when reading older books like The Shining or The Dead Zone makes them all the more enjoyable. Growing up during the pre-cell phone/internet era just makes those older books ever better. Mr. King's ability to write during that era and to so easily have crossed over to the modern age with books like Cell is just another testament to his amazing talent and versatility in imho.

 

[fushingfeef]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Dreamcatcher. It's not a terrible SK novel, but hard to say it's one of his better ones. The movie on the other hand was a complete and utter train wreck--not just a bad adaptation, but one of the worst movies ever made.

And how about Trucks/Maximum Overdrive? Not a strong King story, and the movie really stunk. Sorry Steve, they can't all be great ones!

 

[blunthead]

I must include "I, Robot" in the category of movies that didn't hold to the book but were okay. We like Will Smith, and we thought the story was decent, but it was nothing like what I remembered of Asimov's original series. But at least his estate got some income, I hope.

I haven't read I, Robot, but take the opportunity nonetheless to know that the movie's nowhere near as good as the book, nor anything like it in any other way. Both War of the Worlds movies vary enough from the original story to be lesser stories, imho, and the first of them was superior to the second by coming closer to the feel the book gave. The second is superior in terms of visual satisfaction due mostly to the action after the first Tripod is revealed.

While I'm reminiscing about movies few of you may've seen, I'll continue by mentioning first The Time Machine one, which is endearing to me despite being less of a story compared to the book. The second Time Machine doesn't bear mentioning. Oops.

 

[blunthead]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Dreamcatcher. It's not a terrible SK novel, but hard to say it's one of his better ones. The movie on the other hand was a complete and utter train wreck--not just a bad adaptation, but one of the worst movies ever made.

And how about Trucks/Maximum Overdrive? Not a strong King story, and the movie really stunk. Sorry Steve, they can't all be great ones!

I doubt you can hurt sK's feeling much by trashing the movie, and for sure you'll ruin your credibility with him if you pretend. He himself has said that Maximum Overdrive is proof that he's a writer.

I defend Dreamcatcher, the movie as well as the book. Often my first viewing of a movie will seem disappointing when it's from a story I've read. Perfect example: The Princess Bride. I overlooked the stuff which was included which I loved about the book and focused on the stuff which wasn't. Of course, I had other characters pictured, too. But on subsequent viewings of Dreamcatcher, The Princess Bride, and others, I've decided to be more merciful and have been rewarded. Dreamcatcher's scary and very weird, qualities I'll always enjoy, and The Princess Bride is almost as hilarious as the book, which is no mean feat when you consider who wrote it. Goldman also wrote the screenplay, though.

 

[skimom2]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Dreamcatcher. It's not a terrible SK novel, but hard to say it's one of his better ones. The movie on the other hand was a complete and utter train wreck--not just a bad adaptation, but one of the worst movies ever made.

And how about Trucks/Maximum Overdrive? Not a strong King story, and the movie really stunk. Sorry Steve, they can't all be great ones!

Maximum Overdrive always makes me laugh, so I consider it a success--lol! It's awful in a hilarious way, and the soundtrack ROCKS (love AC/DC )