Worst book to movie adaptations
12-20-05, 10:38 PM
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Worst book to movie adaptations
I noticed that among all the remakes, there seems to be a decent number of book to movie adaptations. Granted, many of these books I haven't read, so I can't make a call on how accurate they are.
So basically, what's the WORST book to movie adaptation you've ever seen?
My vote goes for Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World.
Book to movie comparison-read only if you want to know why vote for this:
Yeah, so that's the worst adaptation I've ever seen. My second vote is for Dean Koontz's Phantoms.
Anyways, what're your worst? Or best even? And how do the new movies compare to their respective originals?
So basically, what's the WORST book to movie adaptation you've ever seen?
My vote goes for Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World.
Book to movie comparison-read only if you want to know why vote for this:
Spoiler:
Yeah, so that's the worst adaptation I've ever seen. My second vote is for Dean Koontz's Phantoms.
Anyways, what're your worst? Or best even? And how do the new movies compare to their respective originals?
12-20-05, 11:53 PM
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My choice is A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY, which was dumbed down and oversimplified into SIMON BIRCH. I don't expect a literal translation from the John Irving novel to the silver screen, but I did expect an intelligent distillation and interpretation of the novel in the same way George Roy Hill did with his excellent THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.
12-21-05, 01:11 AM
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DVD Talk Limited Edition
I'll have to agree with "Lost World". Too much was changed.
Congo was.....it was what it was. A nice book that made silly via motion picture.
"Sphere" I heard was quite faithful to the book but i never bothered to watch it.
My vote for best probably would have to go to "Frankenstein".
I read the book and it was the most boring piece i have ever read. It was painfully dry and overly descriptive. Plus i feel there should be a limit to the number of uses of the words "sublime" and "melancholy" in any work.
The movie (old one), while changing alot at least made the story more interesting.
Congo was.....it was what it was. A nice book that made silly via motion picture.
"Sphere" I heard was quite faithful to the book but i never bothered to watch it.
My vote for best probably would have to go to "Frankenstein".
I read the book and it was the most boring piece i have ever read. It was painfully dry and overly descriptive. Plus i feel there should be a limit to the number of uses of the words "sublime" and "melancholy" in any work.
The movie (old one), while changing alot at least made the story more interesting.
12-21-05, 04:35 AM
#11
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by DieselsDen
My choice is A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY, which was dumbed down and oversimplified into SIMON BIRCH. I don't expect a literal translation from the John Irving novel to the silver screen, but I did expect an intelligent distillation and interpretation of the novel in the same way George Roy Hill did with his excellent THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.
Originally Posted by Fok
The Shining was disapointing
12-21-05, 06:55 AM
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My vote goes to two Stephen King Novels, 'Salems Lot, great book god awfull film, and Dreamcatcher, I quite enjoyed the book but the film is one of the worst I have ever seen.
12-21-05, 07:22 AM
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DVD Talk Godfather
Originally Posted by slavetotherave
My vote goes for Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World.
Book to movie comparison-read only if you want to know why vote for this:
Book to movie comparison-read only if you want to know why vote for this:
The Shining is by far the worst adaptation ever. Unless you count the Lawnmower Man (also Stephen King) in which everything was lost but the title.
12-21-05, 07:31 AM
#14
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
"Less Than Zero". Hollywood sanitized the hell out of this, changed character motivations and turned it into a typical cautionary tale. 
12-21-05, 09:02 AM
#17
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Originally Posted by LiquidSky
"Less Than Zero". Hollywood sanitized the hell out of this, changed character motivations and turned it into a typical cautionary tale.
12-21-05, 09:43 AM
#20
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Originally Posted by Drop
Agreed. This book is in desperate need of readaptation. Too bad Downy Jr is too old to play a role again, though. He was fantastic. Jami Gertz was atrocious, however.
12-21-05, 10:06 AM
#22
DVD Talk Godfather
Originally Posted by DRG
I'd have to vote for Along Came a Spider.
12-21-05, 10:20 AM
#23
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Moonraker. Nothing is kept except for the title. And they made a bad movie of it to boot.
Damnation Alley.
Jungle Book. Disney only kept the title. At least the movie wasn't terrible. Although I read that Jungle Book 2 was.
Damnation Alley.
Spoiler:
Jungle Book. Disney only kept the title. At least the movie wasn't terrible. Although I read that Jungle Book 2 was.
Last edited by Nick Danger; 12-21-05 at 10:24 AM.
12-21-05, 10:27 AM
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Anne Rice's "The Queen Of The Damned". Outside of character's names, everything was changed. The movie still turned out to be decent. Just nowhere near as good as the book.