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Best/Favorite Movie adaptation of book

rootabaga

rootabaga

Android Expert
I've been pondering this thread for a while, and as I watched "The Green Mile" for the umpteenth time today it reminded me...so...

What's your favorite (or what do you consider the best) movie adaptation from a book you've read? This could be kind of tough because many movies so poorly relate to the book -- don't we always say "The book was better!"?

I can think of several that are very good, but a favorite is the one that reminded me of this thread. I really enjoyed Mr. King's book, and the movie faithfully retells the story via an outstanding cast.

What's yours?
 
hhhmm.. great question... there have been many bad ones...

currently i am going throw AudioBook of a series form Clive Cussler "Dirk Pitt" series.
adventure .. similar to Indiana Jones.
20 books. I am currently on 17 "Trojan Odyssey"

number 11 is "Sahara".
movie was made of it:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318649/

i liked the movie.... when it came out in 2005.
it is very good adoption of the book.
i did NOT know about the books at the time.

i think they should do more. :)
 
Dune - OK it's only a fraction of the original Frank Herbert book, bit ii captured the feel of the book very well, I don't really like Sting, but he was perfectly cast as Feyd.
 
Actually this is a good question, and a tricky one: I read it a day ago and haven't really got an answer yet. Much trickier than "bad movie adaptation", which is a bit fish in a barrel.

dontpanicbobby said:
Hitchhiker
Click to expand...
If you mean "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" that is contentious, since many people find it quite lacking in comparison with the original (which was originally two radio series, with the books coming later). Though I will give them credit for not attempting a line-for-line transcription (usually an error when changing media), and I liked some of the new jokes, there were a fair few places where I felt that the screenwriters didn't fully get the source material.

I have to give an honourable mention to Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings trilogy: yes, some liberties taken, tones changed in places, things sped up and more emphasis on battles than the books, but just for succeeding in pulling off filming something like that, and generally doing it very successfully and clearly with great love (there's a vast amount of tiny detail in the sets and costumes, more than I think anyone would consciously appreciate on a single viewing) I think it deserves recognition in this context. Actually I am mainly familiar with the extended versions, so am really speaking about those.

But best? I don't know: I have this feeling that an answer may come to me, but I'm not quite certain what it is yet.

(Favourite is trickier, since I don't generally have single favourites of anything).
 
An easy one would be "A Christmas Carol" since it must be pretty close to the highest number of movie remakes for a single book.... and If i'm going to pick one of them, I'm going for the Muppet's Christmas Carol, which is surprisingly faithful to the original and even includes the Penguins Ice Skating contest, which most of the other versions skip for time considerations.

I read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad before I saw the movie Apocalypse now. The time, the setting, the plot of the movie and book are all strangely different, but its an amazing movie adaptation of a frankly un-filmable book

Honorable shoutouts to go to Les-Miserable (A novel that i think is an amazing book, that even makes Dicken's A Tale of 2 Cities pale by comparison) and A Life of Pi (a book with at least 3 possible endings, which are all covered by the film... I'm not really sure which one of them is the 'true' one even now... )

BUT @rootabaga asked for one... so one it will have to be.

In first place...

To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Again, a book I read before seeing the movie... An seeing the movie made me want to read the book again... and reading the book makes me want to watch the movie. Both the ideas, and the glimpse into a world gone by - but reflected in society around us make this something that i can't watch without seeing and feeling something new every time.
 
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