I have never been a big fan of movie adaptations. There are many people who love book-to-movie adaptations and my post is not to bash those that like them. I know that there are many people who would make fun of me for always reading the book first. At times there have been movies that I have not seen because I have not read the book, even now that I am eighteen and I can make my own choice.
I was raised with the mindset that I always had to read the book first. Now that I think back on it, perhaps it was just a clever ruse in order to get me to read more. Sometimes it was true and then there were some instances in which I actually liked the film adaptation. It seems to me, though, that film adaptations have grown progressively worse throughout the years. To me it seems, that Hollywood film directors believe they can take poetic license to movies and make them completely different from the books that that they were based off of. That is not okay to me. Here are a few examples of movie adaptations that went wrong.
Example 1is Avatar the Last Airbender; while Avatar was not a book to begin with, it is the first offender that comes to mind. With the awful acting and the the pronunciation of Aang's name, I found it awful altogether.
Example 2 is Eragon; for those who saw it and read the book, we all know that the only thing that was similar between the book and the movie were the names and a few of the battle scenes. Nothing else. Oh, and the fact that there is a dragon.
Example 3 is Howl's Moving Castle; I love the movie for its entertainment value and its story, but for it's faithfulness to the book, all I have to say is at least they got the names right! The book is much more entertaining. There are some scenes that are completely faithful to the book, but they are right at the beginning.
Example 4 is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief; Let's just not talk about it, okay? It was a horrible movie adaptation with little-to-none of the original book represented in it. The characters were not accurately represented by their actors/actresses and the plot was quite skewed. Now the Percy Jackson "fandom" may go back to their respective corners and weep.
Now, here are some of my favorite book to movie adaptations gone right!
Example 1: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies; I am a huge fan of the movies. They were wonderfully made and although there is some deviation from the book, it works for the movie and I have never really heard an LotR lover complain.
Example 2: Pride and Prejudice; the movie was pretty good and it took awhile for the book to grow on me, but once it did, I actually bought the movie. There are a few main points that are most definitely not included in the book, but they were tastefully done and I had no complaints.
Example 3: Catching Fire; I could go on for a day about how good the movie was in comparison to the book. The director and the actors really did the book justice and it was a movie where I went out of the theater after seeing it, saying,"Wow!"
Example 4: Harry Potter; I know that there are eight movies, but there are actually a few that are good. My favorite was Prisoner of Azkaban, because Sirius is my favorite character. The directing of the movies was fantastic (maybe except for the 5th and 6th, as well as the end of the 8th movie, that is just me though and all of our opinions vary).
Are there any book-to-movie adaptations you feel could have been done better? Are there any book-to-movie adaptations that you felt were stellar and I forgot to mention them?
I want to know what you think, so let me know in the comments!
