The Book or Movie: Which Do You Like Better?

What is your favourite book to movie? Least favourite? Most surprising/disappointing?

I'm just curious to know if people usually enjoy the book or the film more, or if anyone ever gets pissed off when a movie doesn't do a book justice, or is completely surprised that the movie is much better than the book. I'd love to read what you guys think, so please, post away!

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"Maybe we need to feel we count, like our existence matters. Acting can do that; it makes you feel more alive and proud to be a human being." ~MS~

fav book to movie.. thats easy, Lord of the Rings by far. I enjoy reading the books before seeing the movies just because its fun to compare. However, i think people should always keep in mind what makes a book good is different then what makes a movie good. They arent going to be the same for obvious reasons, so to nit pick a movie to death by saying "thats not how it was in the book" every few minutes isnt really fair to the movie, in my opinion.

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Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.

Silence of the Lambs. And then the Harry Potter movies/LoTR.

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"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" - Howard Beale

One example that sticks out in my mind is "A Clockwork Orange." I read the book before i watched the movie so i had a more thorough understanding of the story as i watched it. It is one of my favorite books, thus making it one of my favorite movies but still i couldn't help being disappointed by it. It just seemed very hyped up that Kubrick added much more dimension to it and in some cases did a better job than the author and I found these claims to be completely wrong after watching the movie.

True he found the creativity to bring a strange new idea to the screen and did the book justice but it is impossible for a director to capture all the elements that are only visible in books or a 5 hour movie. Don't get me wrong, Kubrick isn a great director. I loved 2001, Dr. Strangelove etc. but when it comes to this i always have to disagree

Thus in conclusion, all adaptations of books are failures. Just depends on the degree to which they fail.

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Boards don't hit back

Thats not exactly how I look at it....but it is cool none the less.

A Clockwork Orange is a good example.

A&E's version of Pride and Prejudice is the best adaptation I’ve ever seen as far as following the book to a tee but it was a mini-series...

I read Jaws before I saw the movie and while the movie is extremely good, the book was creepier because it went into a lot more detail on the thought’s going through the victims minds while they were being attacked…

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I enjoy Verhoeven's rather liberal interpretation of the bible in the film Showgirls.

Not enough topless women, though. Truly that is the essence of the story.

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"We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow-worm."
--Winston Churchill

tuna how can you say that all books to movies fail??! there are plently of great movies from books. what about lotr? and i know its an obscure example but adaptation?

films are a brilliant way of telling classic stories to people who wouldn't want to read the books. I mean look at baz lurmans (bad spelling i know) romeo and juliet. thye can also inspire poelpe to read. I don't read much myself but after watching the fellowship of the ring i read both the hobbit and lotr in 3 weeks.

Its late here and this is a discussion thats been had many times......so im just going to list some books I read that became films I love:

Most of the SAM SPADE novels

Most of the JAMES BOND novels (Though only taking the title in some cases)

BLADE RUNNER- Phillip K Dicks: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

GOODFELLAS- WiseGuys (A true story)

Stephenking's THE SHINING, STAND BY ME

Isaac Asimov's 2001: ASPACE ODYSSEY

Ken Kesey' ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST

Elmore Leonard's GET SHORTY, JACKIE BROWN, 52 PICK UP etc

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1,2,3...

Thomas Harris's BLACK SUNDAY.

THE BOSTON STRANGLER

David Morrell's FIRST BLOOD

Bob Woodward's ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN/WIRED

William Goldings LORD OF THE FLIES

Hunter S Thompson's FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS

Truman Capote's IN COLDS BLOOD

Jim Thompson's THE KILLING/THE GETAWAY

PAPPILON

SERPICO

Walter Tevis' THE HUSTLER

Bret Eaton Ellis' AMERICAN PSYCHO

Fredric Forsythe' DAY OF THE JACKAL

Roal Dahl' CHARLIE & THE CHOCLATE FACTORY (Though Dahl sid he hated the psychedelic film)

Thats just a few off the top of my head that I feel were as fun on celluloid as they were in printed word.

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******"The Majority Is Always Wrong" Steve Mcqueen in Enemy Of The People******

Sorry I should have been more clear, I meant all movies fail in comparison with the books they are based on. Lord of the Rings is an example of a good movie but (although i haven't read the books) I've heard from friends complain about characters missing and small subplots taken out for timesake and thats the point i was addressing.

I try not to read any books. It lessons my disappointment in movies.

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Jim Lewis
To BE or Not to BE, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barium Enema
Crouching Tiger, Paint Your Wagon - Movies Without Nudity

I have read the books (though it has been approx 7 years) their are some different takes in the movies then in the books (ex i do not believe Arwin gives Aragorn the jewel in the beginning) and their are others. I have also read Jurrasic Park, and a few others and in all cases the movie was not so much a let down as a film, but more on the terms that it did not follow the book the way it was written. However it is hard to turn a good novel into a 2 hour movie, so I can understand why they change as many things as they do (however I am under the understanding that the Harry Potter movies follow the books very well, but i have not read them as of yet) to make the movie "whole"in the time available. Nonetheless, I have to agree with you that in general movie adaptions of novels rarely express the book as well as people who have read it (and possibly even the writer) would like.

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In the end...
Everything we do,
Is just everything we've done!
- Corey Taylor (2002)

However, even with that said, LotR, would deffinately be my fave book to film.

From my experience, watching a movie that was based on a book after I've already read the book, has only made me angry. Due to time constraints, and other obvious things that can get in the way of a movie staying 100% true to a book, I understand that not everything in the movie will be straight from the book. Some changes are necessary. However, the majority of "Based on the Novel" movies, change so much of the book that they shouldn't even claim to be "Based on the Novel".

Having said that though, there are two movies that I saw that stayed very true to the book. They are "A Clockwork Orange" and "White Oleander". So it is for those two reasons that I still have faith in the idea of adapting novels into movies...I'm hoping to find a third winner...any suggestions?

I know I'm probably the odd one here, but I prefer movies to the books they are based upon. I think it's just because I hands down prefer movies as the medium to experience a story. But, take Harry Potter for example because I am reading the book, I like the movies more than the books, even though the books include a more complete story. I almost always think the movie is better than the book. I'm odd though.

I am going to disagree with u Beale becasue while the Harry Potter moives where good the weren't nearly as good as the books. the first movie for example I was mad that the cut the one of the tasks when they where trying to stop the guy who was after the stone

In the second movie I was pissed off that they cut Nearly Headless Nicks birthday not so much for that part in the book just cause I would have liked to seen the way that John would do it

I hope the don't skip the bogart part of the third book

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"isn't it funny you hear a phone ring and it could be anybody, but a ringing phone has to be awnserd doesn't it................doesn't it"

I loved that.

The strange thing though, is while I love the Harry Potter books, and I realize that they are better, I like the movies better. I think it is the medium I prefer....but.....

You are right though. They cut out two of my very favorite parts!

Still great movies. They can't fit everything in.

Hell yeah they are kick ass movies I am just saying the cut some really cool parts of the books and I hope the do a better job of deciding what to cut out for the next movie

example the Sheriking Shake and the Bogart

True.

the only really interesting example that comes to mind right now is a comparison between shohei imamura's 'the eel (unagi)', and the novel it was loosely based on, 'on parole', by akira yoshimura. both film and book are great, but after reading the book i'm really puzzled by some of the choices imamura made. for one thing, his movie, by comparison feels like an uplifting "feel good" story, where the character, on parole after fifteen years in prison for murdering his cheating wife, achieves some semblance of a normal life, finds a new relationship, and slowly integrates himself back into society. the book, on the other hand is much darker, beginning with the murder of one wife, and ending with the murder of another, with the main character experiencing ever more anomy as the story progresses. what's really odd to me is that both the book and the movie share essentially the same circumstances at the outset and deeply troubled world view throughout, and yet come to seeming diametrically oposed conclusions. i have to admit that viewing the two juxtaposed puts the movie in a new light (which is no doubt partly due to the narrative limitations of film in comparison to books which allow both more space and a greater density of thought -- but also it really does make the relatively worry free ending of the movie seem somewhat more facile, unfortunately). i'm befuddled, but i still recommend both the movie and the book to anyone who likes good, slow, ambiguous, character driven stories. anyone else seen the movie or read the book? both are available to the american markets in english...