Reading iVillage’s article “From Page to Screen: The Best Books Made Into Movies” made me think about all of my favorite books that have been made into movies. Some were excellent…some not so good. There is always a controversy raging over what is better, the book or the movie. In my opinion, nine times out of 10 the book way outshines the movie.
Take Stephen King’s The Stand, for instance. The book was amazing, detailed, and graphic, as only a Stephen King book can be; the movie, on the other hand, left out so much of the original plot that it stopped making much sense halfway through the first half and never picked up steam again.
Another case in point is basically anything by Stephen King that has ever been made into a movie. The Shining, Salem’s Lot, and even Pet Cemetery. The movies just failed to capture the sheer terror that Stephen King can make you feel in the pages of a book.
On the other hand, the movie The Hunger Games, based on the book by the same name, was actually pretty true to the book itself. There were some parts that could have been done better, but all in all it was a decent portrayal of the book itself.
Another book that was actually done justice by the movie was One for the Money. Janet Evanovich has long been one of my favorite authors, and to see that the producers hadn’t butchered Stephanie Plum and her hilarious cohorts was quite a relief.
What movies did you enjoy that came from books? What movies did you hate? Join us and let us know. We would love to discuss it together.