#1
Posted: 3/15/06 at 6:52pm
I have to write an essay about the adaptation of novels to film. Can anyone think of some terribly bad adaptations that I could mention?
Bad movies based on books?
#2
Posted: 3/15/06 at 6:53pm
The worst book to movie adaptation I've ever seen is The Scarlet Letter. That Demi Moore movie was atrocious.
#3
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:04pm
It's all subjective of course, but Dune is considered pretty horrific. But are you talking bad movies period or just bad adaptations? Rules Of Attraction, for example, is a bad adaptation but still a good movie.
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#4
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:05pm
Tom Wolfe's "The Bonfire of the Vanities" a great novel turned inot a horrifically miscast movie. I believe that a book was written about it.
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#5
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:05pm
I didn't like Great Expectations with Ethan Hawke and Gweneth Paltrow. It was way off and I found it too weird.
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#6
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:08pm
Harry Potter 4. It was dull, comjpared to the book.
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#7
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:09pm
The movie is almost always worse than the book. I won't watch The Notebook or A Walk to Remember because I love the books and know the movies won't live up to the novels. I know you're looking for bad adaptations, but my two favorite films based on novels are Gone with the Wind and Forrest Gump.
#8
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:11pm
Just bad adaptations, I guess. Where a lot is clearly lost in the process. The movie itself doesn't have to be horrible.
#9
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:12pm
"Memoirs of a Geisha" is a big pain in my side.
The first three Harry Potter movies. (I liked 4 much more than the others.)
The first three Harry Potter movies. (I liked 4 much more than the others.)
"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
#10
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:15pm
How about "The World According to Garp"? I never much liked the movie, but adored the book.
#11
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:17pm
I agree Elphie, Forrest Gump and Gone With The Wind are great adaptations of the novel.
The Scarlet Letter movie was terrible. They changed the ending, and all Demi Moore had to say about it was that "No one read that book anyway so it doesn't matter".
Legally Blonde doesn't really follow the book, but it is good as a stand alone film. Ella Enchanted completely butchered the book from what I've heard. I refuse to watch it so that it won't ruin the book for me.
The Scarlet Letter movie was terrible. They changed the ending, and all Demi Moore had to say about it was that "No one read that book anyway so it doesn't matter".
Legally Blonde doesn't really follow the book, but it is good as a stand alone film. Ella Enchanted completely butchered the book from what I've heard. I refuse to watch it so that it won't ruin the book for me.
#12
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:17pm
The Notebook. I read the book before I saw the movie, and when I saw it, I hated it. Horrible compared to the book. *strokes her copy of The Notebook*
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#13
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:28pm
A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD.
A wonderful book - and still, a wonderful movie, but not a good adaptation.
A wonderful book - and still, a wonderful movie, but not a good adaptation.
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#14
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:35pm
Queen of the Damned in addition to being one of the worst movies I've ever seen, was an atrocious adaptation of Anne Rice's book.
#15
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:37pm
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. It's my favorite book of all time, and the plot is completely hacked to pieces in the movie.
For a more contemporary one, The Princess Diaries. Disney neutered just about everything that made the books so funny and entertaining and turned it into just another bland fairy tale for little girls.
For a more contemporary one, The Princess Diaries. Disney neutered just about everything that made the books so funny and entertaining and turned it into just another bland fairy tale for little girls.
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#16
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:39pm
#1Elphie - I agree. I refuse to see "Memoirs of a Geisha" just because I know it couldn't possibly capture the detail and imagery the book cultivated.
#17
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:41pm
And you were sadly right, luvliza. 
(Off-topic: Is your moniker based on the Philip Seymour Hoffman movie of the same name?)
And the worst part is I think they really could've captured the detail, imagery and the heart of the story, but Marshall and the writers decided to make it about Sayuri's pursuit of the Chairman, instead of what I felt it was really about.
(Off-topic: Is your moniker based on the Philip Seymour Hoffman movie of the same name?) And the worst part is I think they really could've captured the detail, imagery and the heart of the story, but Marshall and the writers decided to make it about Sayuri's pursuit of the Chairman, instead of what I felt it was really about.
"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
#18
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:42pm
The Oscar by Richard Sale
It took a book with 5 actors vying for the oscar & focused on one eliminating the others. It than substituted cardboard characters with absolutely abominable dialog . It turned out to be a camp classic that needs to be broadcast soon. It has been off for much to long
It took a book with 5 actors vying for the oscar & focused on one eliminating the others. It than substituted cardboard characters with absolutely abominable dialog . It turned out to be a camp classic that needs to be broadcast soon. It has been off for much to long
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#19
Posted: 3/15/06 at 7:51pm
The Stepford Wives.
I actually did like the re-make (and I haven't seen the original), but they didn't follow the plot.
And then, do you know Monseiur Marius, I believe I was a little in love with you.
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I actually did like the re-make (and I haven't seen the original), but they didn't follow the plot.
♥♥♥
#20
Posted: 3/15/06 at 11:56pm
Shirley Jackson's The Lottery (horrid tv movie, starring Felicity).
The Westing Game.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood (movie was 'ok,' nothing near as good as the two books, though).
Flowers in the Attic (ok, not that the book is 'good,' not award winning or whatever, but it's fun camp reading, and the film was just so horrible).
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (my fav book in the series, and even though I know the book was so long it still felt like they cut too much from it for the movie).
Both the live-action Cat in the Hat and the live-action The Grinch.
The Westing Game.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood (movie was 'ok,' nothing near as good as the two books, though).
Flowers in the Attic (ok, not that the book is 'good,' not award winning or whatever, but it's fun camp reading, and the film was just so horrible).
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (my fav book in the series, and even though I know the book was so long it still felt like they cut too much from it for the movie).
Both the live-action Cat in the Hat and the live-action The Grinch.
#21
Posted: 3/16/06 at 12:08am
Simon Birch is a classic example of crap adaptation. Never heard of the book? That's because the title was A Prayer For Owen Meaney, and John Irving only sold the rights on the condition that it be released under another name, because he doubted it could be adapted properly. He was right, and he wrote himself a much better adaptation with The Cider House Rules.
#22
Posted: 3/16/06 at 12:38am
Plum, you just beat me too it. I liked Simon Birch when I first saw it, and then I read Meany (my favourite book) and I was like, "WTF?" I now passionately hate Simon Birch.
None of the other Irving adaptions are very good either. I mean, so much is always lost. They are all good stand-alone movies, but nothing compared to the original books.
None of the other Irving adaptions are very good either. I mean, so much is always lost. They are all good stand-alone movies, but nothing compared to the original books.
#23
Posted: 3/16/06 at 12:48am
*sticks head in to say- I really liked the movie A Walk to Remember, and I had read that book at least 5 times many years before the movie came out*
#24
Posted: 3/16/06 at 1:01am
There was a TERRIBLE adaptation of Daniel Dafoe's "Moll Flanders" some years back. Robin Wright Penn was the lead and the movie slaughtered the storyline, tacked on this "Moll gets a long lost daughter back" at the end, and ignored about 3/4 of the novel.
Now, the BBC adaptation of this story, with Alex Kingston in the lead, was a fantastic adaptation.
Now, the BBC adaptation of this story, with Alex Kingston in the lead, was a fantastic adaptation.
"My dreams, watching me said, one to the other...this life has let us down."
#25
Posted: 3/16/06 at 1:12am
How could I forget Jumanji? I love Chris Van Allsburg, but his books are way too short (in length and on words) for a feature-length film.
And then there's the mother of all bad adaptations, at least in my eyes- the recent Sci-Fi miniseries of Ursula K. LeGuin's first two Earthsea books. The morons took one of the most thoughtful, poetic, and wonderful fantasy series ever and made it into a WB romance with a magic and dragons stuck on top. They mushed the two stories together into one for no apparent reason. Oh, and they made the non-white leads into pasty Anglos because evidently that's how you get mainstream acceptance for great stories these days.
And then there's the mother of all bad adaptations, at least in my eyes- the recent Sci-Fi miniseries of Ursula K. LeGuin's first two Earthsea books. The morons took one of the most thoughtful, poetic, and wonderful fantasy series ever and made it into a WB romance with a magic and dragons stuck on top. They mushed the two stories together into one for no apparent reason. Oh, and they made the non-white leads into pasty Anglos because evidently that's how you get mainstream acceptance for great stories these days.
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