Thursday, November 13

Books to Movies

The countdown has begun... One week until the Twilight movie release! Judging from the responses to Alyson's post, most of us who are Twilight fans are looking forward to the movie, even if we aren't too sure we have high expectations.

It's always a gamble when a favorite book is adapted for the silver screen. Here are some examples from recent years (in no particular order):

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Fail. How could they add that stupid talking snake and music montage and take away the animated rug and sliding down the banister?

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Awesome, especially the quidditch game.

Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot


Fun. Ever notice how well Hector Elizondo plays the gentle advisor to confused diamond-in-the-rough young women? See Pretty Woman.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Fail. What was up with the costuming? Bleh.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Well done. Made me cry, just like the book.


The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

Disappointing. A beautiful movie to look at, but sooo chopped up.

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

OK, The DaVinci Code was not a favorite book, but I had to include it to ask - what was up with that awful hair they gave poor Tom Hanks? Ick.

Holes by Louis Sachar

Loved, loved, loved it. Great adaptation. Especially Dule Hill as Sam and Jon Voight as Mr. Sir.

And there are so many, many more.

Have any of your favorite books been made into movies? How did they fare?

P.S. I'm giving away the first ever advanced readers copy of DEATH BY DENIM this weekend on my blog. Come on by!

13 comments:

goooooood girl said...
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Jennifer Rummel said...

i liked the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - it was different from the book, but still really good.
Pride and Prejudice (both versions) are great
Same for Little Women
Ruby in the Smoke I liked

Melissa Walker said...

i liked THE BALLET SHOES with emma watson. and NICK AND NORAH... was so much fun too!

Alyson Noel said...

Hmmm, Bridget Jones Diary & The Devil Wears Prada - really liked the movie versions. Oh, and Into the WIld, um, Harry Potter (didn't read the books- gasp!- but very fun movies) Pride & Prejudice- of course! Oh yes, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-- I know there's more but I'll stop there!

Anonymous said...

Blood and Chocolate- The movie was horrible and totally not based on the book- the change the setting from American to Prague and increased the main character's age to college. Very disappointing.

The Dark is Rising- which was the movie titled: The Seeker. Not horrible, but again, different from the book. They threw some surprising twists in it, but the book is still better.

Gerb said...

yabooknerd - I haven't seen Ruby in the Smoke. I'll have to check it out.

Haven't seen Nick and Nora yet, Melissa, but I did like the Ballet Shoes.

Alyson, as your list illustrated, there are a lot of movies from books that were done well. Gives me hope for Twilight.

Pikealicious, even if the movie is good, I typically think the book is better!

Anonymous said...

omj, the 5th harry potter was soooooo far from the book!!!!!!! plus harry's hot!!!! i don't wanna see him kiss cho chang!!!!! ( and actually i kinda liked that part lol)

sweetmelissa818 said...

My favorite book is also a movie! Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I loved it despite the fact that it was so different from the book.

Diana Rodriguez Wallach said...

Cider House Rules-- loved the book, HATED the movie. They combined characters and screwed with the timeline so much, the movie was simply a mess.

Bridget Jones--loved both books and both movies. The fight scenes are hysterical.

Amanda Ashby said...

Obviously I have to say Lord of the Rings since I live in New Zealand!!!!!

Nearly all the Jane Austen adaptions have been great (apart from when the BBC had Billie Piper playing Fanny Price in Mansfield Park. No, no, no)

Oh, I actually saw A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing the other day and I enjoyed it a lot more than the book (which I didn't like at all) though I don't think the movie was everyone's cup of tea.

Sara Hantz said...

Definitely the Bridget Jones books, and Travelling Pants, Devil Wears Prada, and Pride and Prejudice (actually all the Jane Austin), Harry Potter.... actually I seem to love most movies of books I love....

Anonymous said...

I liked Maniac Magee the book by Jerry Spinelli and the movie was made by Nikelodeon, but I couldn't see it.

Anonymous said...

Most of the movies based on books mainly on novels. And I have seen a lots of that kind of movies. Some of them are really worth to watch.

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