Book vs Movie

[Audiogen]

Which books do you prefer to the movie adaptations? Which book and movie are equal? Which movies do you prefer to the book?

Also, to stimulate conversation beyond making lists, I notice whenever there is a discussion about a movie that is based on a book, and someone brings up the book, there is always an eye roll from one of the movie only people. It's as if they are in disbelief that someone could find as much enjoyment from the book as the movie, or they don't believe that the book might've had details to the story that were excluded from the movie, or maybe they just think it's pretentious or something. I wonder if that is a common response in your experience or more of a regional thing... Experiences related to those types of book and movie conversations can be part of the thread.



Book better than Movie:

• Solaris
• I Robot
• The Stand
• Of Mice and Men
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Pet Sematary
• Needful Things
• Salem's Lot

Book equal with Movie:

• Fight Club
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• Misery
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka ...)
• Jurassic Park
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Movie better than Book:

• The Great Gatsby
• Shawshank Redemption
• Dolores Claiborne
• Macbeth

[neonspectraltoast]

I'll definitely get shit for this, and though it's a good book, I love the Hitchhiker's Guide movie with Mos Def as Ford Prefect.

[Audiogen]

I'll definitely get shit for this, and though it's a good book, I love the Hitchhiker's Guide movie with Mos Def as Ford Prefect.

I preferred the book to the movie but I watched the movie with a friend and he seemed to enjoy it.

[Undies]

i liked the hitchhiker's guide movie too, but i did think the book was better.

i don't know, in my experience it seems like the book is usually better than the movie, but off the top of my head i can think of very few books/movies where i've actually both read the book and seen the movie. makes it kind of hard to compare. just from the original list, i'm surprised to see jurassic park in the "equal" list; that's been my lifelong example of where a movie totally ruined a book. it's been about 25 years since i read it and 20 since i watched the movie, but from what i recall almost the entire book was about the three main characters getting stuck on a raft and riding through the entirety of the park on the river, and then the movie was about the boring parts of the book that filled in between the main storyline.

i do agree with fear and loathing being equal. mostly because the movie was so directly taken from the book that the dialogue is word-for-word the same and in general it just gives the same experience.

[Youfreeme]

I really prefer all of the Lord of the Rings movies to the books. Other than that, I prefer the books to the movies.

[neonspectraltoast]

I liked the ending of the Shining movie better than the book. If I recall, in the book the hotel blows up.

[neonspectraltoast]

Edited cause I used a funny line between Jonesy and redneck cop from Reno 911 someone might find offensive. Doggonit that was a funny clip. though. Can't find it online.

[SpaceMan]

Papillon


movie >book

original mcqueen/hoffman movie only....recent remake sucked balls


lord of the rings i preferred the books because then most of it was imagination instead of fake computer generated images

[neonspectraltoast]

Papillon


movie >book

original mcqueen/hoffman movie only....recent remake sucked balls


lord of the rings i preferred the books because then most of it was imagination instead of fake computer generated images

Didn't realize they remade it.

[Audiogen]

i don't know, in my experience it seems like the book is usually better than the movie, but off the top of my head i can think of very few books/movies where i've actually both read the book and seen the movie. makes it kind of hard to compare. just from the original list, i'm surprised to see jurassic park in the "equal" list; that's been my lifelong example of where a movie totally ruined a book. it's been about 25 years since i read it and 20 since i watched the movie, but from what i recall almost the entire book was about the three main characters getting stuck on a raft and riding through the entirety of the park on the river, and then the movie was about the boring parts of the book that filled in between the main storyline.

Was that 20 years ago the first time you watched the movie?

Makes me think an interesting wrinkle in enjoyment could be the order you see/read them and I was already considering there is probably a nostalgia factor to some selections.

Jurassic Park movie gets the equal primarily due to the special effects. I saw it in theaters, before having read the book, I doubt I would have even been able to grasp most the book at that age. I was fascinated by dinosaurs but they had been dreadful when represented in movies up until that point. Jurassic Park made them some of the most realistic movie creatures and also it was the first movie that I recall in surround sound. In the book, I do remember characters like Hammond being much more fleshed out, and more depth to the genetic engineering aspects.

[Audiogen]

I really prefer all of the Lord of the Rings movies to the books. Other than that, I prefer the books to the movies.

Do you mind listing some of those? My ulterior motive here is to get some ideas for books to read.

[Jessica]

I agree with fight club and fear and loathing.

I watched about five minutes of the recent The Dark Tower film and then turned it off, so the books are much better because I've read them twice in the last five years.

I preferred the film for The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

As for people's reactions, if they like the film and someone tells them the book is better, any negative reaction is about perceived accusation of inferiority. Most of the time I don't think people roll their eyes. I think of people saying the book is better as being the more common thing.

I remember Jurassic Park being terrible but it was so long ago that I think my dad was reading it to me. He was actually re-reading that when he visited last week.

I didn't enjoy the start of the book of A Clockwork Orange either, but I didn't try very hard. I'll still assume the film is better.

[Jessica]

I think this is currently being adapted for TV series or film or something, but you might enjoy the Hugh Howey Wool trilogy (Wool, Shift, and Dust) I've mentioned a few times recently.

If they make it a film, the books will definitely be better. If it's a series, that might do it enough justice.

[Irminsul]

ive seen a lot of movied that came out of book that were a bit ehhhh, but im not sure ive read any books that were movies.

i read interview with the vampire but have not watched the movie. same as green mile and shawshank redeption. I dunno if shawshank book was any better but i did love the movie, one of my favs

[Meliai]

I really prefer all of the Lord of the Rings movies to the books. Other than that, I prefer the books to the movies.

Wuuuuut

I had to actively work to separate the movies from the books so I could enjoy the movies ? and I do enjoy them. But my first viewing of the movies bothered me because I had imagined this world in such rich detail in my head, then to see it imagined so differently by someone else annoyed me haha

[mallyboppa]

And they missed a lot out of the films ! the part with the Barrow wights was Genuinely disturbing and tom bombadillo was epic

[Meliai]

Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow! Bright blue his jacket is and his boots are yellow!

[Meliai]

Forrest Gump and The Shining are the only two where I think the movies are significantly better than the books.

Otherwise, the book is always better