There are movies that hold to the book and also tell their own tale very well.
There are movies that don't hold to the book but tell their own tale well.
And then there are movies that are nicely faithful to the original story but don't tell a very good tale themselves.
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.
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.
- 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.