Great Movies From Terrible Books?

If y'all are going to go with The Lord of The Rings, then I am throwing in The Harry Potter books. The books were o.k. (not great, or even particularly well written, just good), but the movies were much, much better.

For example, the books spend a book and a half on the Elf Liberation Front, which goes nowhere and is suddenly dropped in the fifth book (I think). Also, the end fight in the movie is incredible and epic. In the book they square off, Harry says "You can't defeat me because your want belongs to me". Voldemort casts a death spell, but, since the wand belongs to Harry, it backfires and Voldemort dies. That is it. It is over in ten seconds, Harry does nothing at all and it is as anti-climatic as hell. I read through all seven books for that ending? No thanks.

Harry Potter in a conversation about terrible books. Have I seen it all?

Those books are pure wonder and (riding the cliché train here) magic. The films are all very well-made adaptations.

If the book and a half of Elf Liberation Front arc had actually been resolved instead of simply dropped and if the final fight scene was better than the ending for Monsters a-Go Go, I could agree with you. As it is, the books are quite a let down after having watched the films.

I liken the Harry Potter books to The Wheel of Time Books by Robert Jordan. Jordan envisioned a great world and a great story. The problem was that he was not the best person to write it. After he died and Brandon Sanderson finished the series by writing the last three books, it showed who should have been writing the books the entire time. Sanderson is a much better writer and I wish that he could go back and re-write the first eleven books. Jordan, like Rowling rambles a lot in the middle and is not sure where he wants the story to go. It is really rough to finish books 7-9 (of The Wheel of Time) and, just like Rowling, he leaves giant plots and side-plots unresolved and simply dropped.

Harry Potter is a great world, but Rowling, unfortunately, is simply not the best writer and her Magnum Opus has some serious flaws. The movies did a great job of leaving out the padding and the wasted plot lines and actually created an epic final fight scene worth watching.

I could discuss the Potter series until my bowels would rot, but that's not on my menu right now. It seems you're forgetting - or ignoring? - that the words "terrible books" are represented in the title of this thread.

Rather than pouncing on, I would normally disregard anyone who claims the Potter books are terrible; it's a quick way to grab attention. They likely never even read the series. But your mention of the books in the first place makes little sense, describing them as ok - even good. From what you write, I can't help but wonder why you've brought them up in this discussion at all.

I also agree that Forest Gump movie is better than a book.
I even wrote a review on it if anyone is interested let me know.
I am open to conversation.

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SeeingisBelieving. have you seen the TV movie "A Christmas Carol" with George C. Scott? It's pretty faithful though it leaves out a scene or two.

I swear I must be the only person on the planet who was bored to death by this movie.

Blade Runner is based on a book by Phillip K. Dick entitled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. There is nothing terrible about Electric Sheep, but it is one of those instances when the screenplay writer, Hampton Frasher, took a great series of ideas and expanded the book into a fantastic concept. He was actually dismissed as screenwriter and David Peoples was brought in to reign in Frasher's massive concept. So the versions of Blade Runner that are available to us today are the result of the effort of Frasher, Ridley Scott, and Peoples. A lot of Phillip K Dick's short stories have been made into successful movies: Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau, and to a lesser extent Total Recall. Very little of what Frasher and People ended up with is found in Electric Sheep.

One thing about Dune the book did that I don't think a film can do, is create a world. Herbert discusses the politics, the history, military weapons and strategy, religion, philosophy, fictitious technology, etc. A movie ha some advantages when it comes to painting a picture, but even the longest movie or series can go into such detail
.

Cobra is better than it's book Fair Game

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Yes the book was incredibly detailed and obviously you also have the advantage of a glossary. That said I think the film made an amazing attempt at world-building, especially through the design – talk about capturing your imagination.