What are the best book to film adaptations, in your opinion? And, if you could choose one book/short story/novella, etc., to adapt to film, what would it be? Some of my favorites: Pride and Prejudice, BBC version Sin City (graphic novel by Frank Miller) Stardust (book by Neil Gaiman) ...just to name a (very) few! I would love to see an adaptation of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series that is faithful to the books. I knew there was a movie made, but as soon as I heard they made the main character American instead of British (as he is in the books) I knew I didn't want to see it.
I'm old fashioned - The Grapes of Wrath Rebecca The Trouble with Harry Marnie Jane Eyre ( I liked the version with Timothy Dalton ) & Both Lolita's were pretty good - although if I could go back in time I'd hire Alfred Hitchcock as the director, Richard Burton as Humbert Humbert and Tuesday Weld as Lolita ( even though she was a little old by then ) and I'd film it in the late 60's. If I could could see something adapted into a movie - Barbapapa - Tim Burton style.
Practical Magic. I read the book before the movie came out, and was disappointed and rather creeped out by the ending. the movie improved it about 500%. similar with Witches of Eastwick, oddly enough--I read the book after seeing the movie, and was again creeped out by the ending.
I thought The Road and Atonement were great adaptations. Atonement won or was nominated for a bunch of awards.
I loved 'Witches of Eastwick' but also, controversially, David Lynch' 'Dune'. 'Name of the Rose' was pretty cool too. Blade Runner, Misery, Carrie...
jazzabel --the Name of the Rose movie adaptation was very good, I thought it was really interesting which parts and themes were kept and which were changed. the book was hard to get through, and the ending was SO DEPRESSING, while the movie was engaging and while it didn't exactly have a happy ending, it at least wasn't as gloomy as the book. I tend to think of every adaptation of Dune as being almost separate stories, with the same basic settings and themes, but each taking a different focus and wildly different styles. the David Lynch movie was fantastic--like 2001, it introduced scenes that became iconic in science fiction. I have to admit that it was really difficult to watch Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides and not constantly think of him as Special Agent Dale Cooper, since I'd been a big fan of Twin Peaks long before I saw the Dune movie!
My three favorite movies are The Shawshank Redemption, Schindler's List, and It's a Wonderful Life. My favorite TV show is Game of Thrones. Other favorite book-to-screen adaptations: Fight Club, Memento, Sherlock, The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Lord of the Rings, Psycho, Jurassic Park, A Clockwork Orange, Apocalypse Now, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, No Country for Old Men, A Beautiful Mind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Raging Bull, Lawrence of Arabia, and those are just some of the ones I rated 10/10 or 9/10 on IMDB. There is a short story called White Box that I want Terrence Malick to adapt into a mini-movie.
I like The NeverEnding Story, even though the movie covers only the first half of the book. Also, as others have mentioned, The Shawshank Redemption and A Clockwork Orange. I also like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (James Mason version).
Watched Name of the Rose several times when I was in high school and loved it, have never read the book though. I'm adding it to my list. I really enjoyed Carrie, 1976 version, and thought it was one of the best King adaptions. I hate comparing the book to the movie, or vice versa, because sometimes good movies get bad reviews only when compared to the source material. Watchmen was a fantastic movie but drastically changed the ending from the original comic. It didn't make it a bad movie at all, but it made it a bad adaptation of the source material.
I think the best I've seen has been Fight Club. The book sucks but the movie adds so much more and makes the story work.
It was bound to fall short though I think, too much stuff had to be cut out, like the Black Freighter. Blade Runner was so different from Do Androids Dream... it's difficult to say it was a true adaptation. Both excellent in their own ways though. I've read and enjoyed Name of the Rose, couldn't get into the film at all though.
One of my favorite movies for sure. One of the few I rate a solid 10/10. I doubt anyone other than David Fincher could make it work so well. Maybe Quentin Tarantino.
I like "The Mist" movie adaptation more than the book. I must have been crying for 10 minutes. Also the Lord of the Rings, where the books get a bit too descriptive sometimes.
Percy Jackson... Seriously, V for Vendetta if that counts, The Road, The Lord of the Rings, the Harry Potter Films even if I have a few complaints. Clockwork Orange and as for anyone who watches Anime Shin Sekai Yori was incredible.
