Hey Pandas, What’s The Best And Worst Movie Adaptation Of A Book You’ve Ever Seen, And Which Version Was Better?

The title of best, the title of worst, and which version of each was better (book or movie).

Best Leo’s Gatsby and worst Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. They left out so many details about Voldemort’s past which made me understand why he was how he was.

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5points

Lena

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Bookworm 1 year ago

I think the problems with the HP movies started way back at Goblet of Fire. That was the book they should have split in two. The series has a parallel structure, and GoF as the lynchpin in the middle is crucial for setting up the entire second half. The movie left *so much* out to save run time that they kept running into compounding issues after that until it all came to a head in HBP, which, yeah, was the worst movie as an individual piece of work.

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Worst - it's a tie between Eragon, Percy Jackson, and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. All good-to-excellent books with compelling characters and plots that should translate easily to a visual medium, and huge potential for big franchise money. All ruined by studios who wanted a quick cash grab and figured teenagers were so stupid and shallow that there was no need to bother with little things like plot or writing or good acting. The movies drip with condescension, carelessness and cheapness, and it's incredibly frustrating watching the same thing happen over and over.

Best - How To Train Your Dragon, which is interesting because on the surface the plot is nothing like the books. However, Cressida Cowell was involved in the script writing, and it shows, because despite the total rewrite, they held onto the true heart of the books - Being A Hero The Hard Way. At the core, it's still a story about having to work and struggle at things that seem to come naturally to everyone else - about fighting to find a place in a world that doesn't always seem to have room for you.

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Final score:

4points

Bookworm

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Smorescout 1 year ago

I’ve read all of those (for the worst one) and all of the movie’s literally SUCK

1point

My best would definitely be Harry Potter #5 Order of the Phoenix because that is my least favorite book in the series, and they made my personal favorite movie in the series. Clearly, I like the movie better. My worst would be Artemis Fowl. It is so bad. It strays way too far off from the plot of the book. Not only this, but it makes Artemis seem way more emotional than he is in the book. Plus, when it is relevant to the plot, it uses exactly what the book says and I hate that. By the way, Artemis Fowl got an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Final score:

3points

Mr. COYS

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Worst- it's probably a tie between Inkheart and Allegiant, for the same reason.
It's good acting subject to bad writing. In my opinion, a movie has to follow the general plotline and meaning of the book. Inkheart gets the meaning but changes the ending, which I believe ruins Dustfinger's character (although I love Brendan Fraser in it). Allegiant... It's a hot mess... No. Books were better for both.

Best- The Fault in Our Stars
This one keeps the plotline and the message! Yes, I miss some parts, especially with the Hectic Glow, but it still hits the same as the book. Although I still think the book is better.

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Final score:

3points

Allydog57

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Bon3z B 1 year ago

I love The Fault In Our Stars! The book and the movie

1point

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Harry Potter and the Order Of The Pheonix (the movie) drives me crazy because they left so much important information out of the movie. I won't spoil it but I highly reccomend you read the book.

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Final score:

3points

Rainstorm

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I really loved the Hunger games movies! Better than the books!

I HATE WITH MY ENTIRE SOUL HEART AND MIND THE PERCY JACKSON MOVIES OMG. They got every single thing wrong and I hate it!!! I love PJ and those movies are a disgrace

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2points

Lil Potato IS BACK!!!!

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Nightmare 1 year ago (edited)

Yes, these movies are a disgrace, I didn't even bother watching the rest

3points

Best: The Shawshank Redemption
based on Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

Close 2nd: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro.

Worst: The Da Vinci Code / Angels & Demons
Even Tom Hanks couldn't save them. Getting a clue, solving it, running somewhere to get the next clue, solving it, ad nauseam.

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2points

You Can Call Me Al

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For me the best is His Dark Materials based on Philip Pullman's trilogy. Surprisingly, they seem as an extension of each other and both are really good. I would recommend first watch, then read.
The absolute worst is the Chronicles of Narnia movie adaptation. I read the book for the first time (in translation into my native language) at the age of 9 or 10, and was truly fascinated by this magical world, its origin, its creator, its dwellers and pure, unique beauty. Then I bought the book in the original with the money from my first official salary after graduation (22 y.o.) and once more found myself in the place that has been in my heart since childhood. And then the films came. I was eager to see them, but ... I found the film characters too shallow and unlikable, stories simplified and a lot of important things left out, all the beauty of the story gone and standardized and everything was just wrong.

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Final score:

1point

Some Random Person

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Best- To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory peck is just 💯
Worst- Cats. Yes. There. Is. A. Book. I haven't read it but it can't be as tragic as that film

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1point

BornToBeMild

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Bookworm 1 year ago

Are you thinking of the original T.S. Elliott poems? Because that's supposedly pretty good, although I haven't read them.

1point

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#10

Best… maybe Hunger Games, the first one, although I haven’t seen it in a while. Worst movie is most definitely Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief, literally it left out the exploding bus! And instead of a fight with the war god Ares, he fights Luke, which doesn’t happen in the book! Like excuse me!!! That’s literally a whole different plot!!!

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Final score:

1point

Smorescout

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Bookworm 1 year ago

The specific flavor of terrible for Percy Jackson was like, 'Well, of course *I* can write a better story than a *mere children's book author*' combined with 'It's just a dumb story for dumb teenagers. Shove a romantic subplot in their face, they won't notice anything else so there's no point spending money.' If you look up Dominic Noble on YouTube, he did a really good breakdown of just how bad it was.

1point

#11

My best would be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and my worst, the Percy Jackson series. Like seriously, it is nothing like the books and has a whole different plot!

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0points

ShadeCalico

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Smorescout 1 year ago

Literally all the Percy Jackson series SUCKS the books are amazing, but the movies? 👎

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#12

Best- either Hunger Games or To Kill a Mockingbird

Worst- The Giver or Gone Girl

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Mrs.King0315

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Bookworm 1 year ago

The Giver was... odd. It was like they just didn't quite trust the subtlety of the original story to get the point across? I'm not generally a fan of the way we divide movies into 'serious films that win awards' and 'big flashy movies that make money,' but that one needed to be more art-house and less blockbuster. A quieter, less action-hero tone would have helped it a lot.

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#13

So the book The One and Only Ivan is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!! i figured out they made a movie of it so of course i watched it! no. it was NOTHINNG like the book and it skipped over some of my favorite parts in the book. i totally recommend reading TOaOI but i DO NOT recommend watching the movie

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