Do movie adaptations do justice to the books?

Answer 1

many movies come nowhere near doing justice to their original book (hannibal, the great gatsby).

many movies are different enough from the original book to be an equally valid but distinctive work (the third man, walkabout, the harry potter films, brief encounter).

once in a while a movie will take a poor or indifferent story and turn it into a masterpiece (high noon, carne tremula).

Answer 2

Sometimes. It's impossible to translate a written word directly from page to screen, but some movies have gotten awful close to the spirit of the book.

I think miniseries have more room than feature films to include minor elements from the story, so often those are better than theatrical releases. The 1995 BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice miniseries is one example of an adaptation that just about got it right. The 1985 CBC Anne of Green Gables miniseries played loose with a lot of the details from the book but somehow managed to catch what was important. And, of course, there's Roots - but it took TWO miniseries to get through that book the way it should be told.

I've always thought Gone With the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird were excellent feature adaptations - although in both those cases I read the book AFTER watching the movie, so it might just be that the film colored my reading. That is the unfortunate part about book adaptations. No one movie could ever capture the exact way every reader imagined the characters and the settings. And after you've seen them, they tend to cast a shadow on the original work. I've so far avoided the Memoirs of a Geisha movie in part because it was such an enjoyable read and I've heard it's a very boring movie.

Answer 3

I think, because the media are so different, that they can but usually don't. In order for a movie to do justice, it has to use visual symbol and has to be able to spend the time necessary to accomplish what the book did. For instance, in LotR, the rich history found in the Silmarilion is completely lost to the movie. And some of the magic, like Tom Bombadil, are gone to non-readers. Sometimes, though, a movie can go beyond the book. Starship Troopers makes social statements that the book can't really dream of. And I thought that the Dune movie did a pretty good job of capturing the mood of the novel if not all the detail.
You just have to keep in mind that it usually will take a lot more time to read a novel than to watch a movie. The movie's strength is in its concrete imagery. A picture is worth a thousand words, but you really have to have the right pictures.

Answer 4

Very infrequently. Sometimes you just have to look at them as two completely different animals and enjoy them for what they are, like Harry Potter and LOTR. The books are excellent, but the movies are very good too, if you don't compare the two plot point by plot point.

The only movie I ever saw that did almost complete justice by the book was The Princess Bride. The casting in that movie was near perfect!

Answer 5

I usually never go to a movie of a book I have read. I don't understand why things that worked in the book have to be changed for the movie version. I went to movies long ago of books I read because I was excited,especially if the book was good. I would be greatly disappointed many times so I have since stopped going. I would rather read the book instead.

Answer 6

Rarely but then how can you possibly capture the imagination and interpretation of every reader in one film? Films only have a certain amount of time to convey what could take you weeks or months to read, so you are only able to immerse yourselves in the film version for a much shorter time. Films need certain elements to attract audiences such as introducing a 'love' interest which might not even exist in the book, but will appeal to the mass market of film watchers. So it is very difficult for a film to do justice to a book, my advice is if there's a book you really love don't ever watch the film version because it will destroy the world you created all by yourself :)

Answer 7

no way.

they always cut out so much of the books and add extra stuff that if you really like the books, you'll find it very disappointing.
when my favourite books like "the lord of the rings" and "harry potter" are made into movies, i've always find that it is really disappointing.
it won't be at all like you expect, some of ur favourite parts may be cut out, and a lot of the essential info.
worst thing of all, i get used to the movie dialogues and stuff, so i don't remember what people actually say in the books. after the movies come out, u also don't remember how you pictured the characters- all ull picture wen u read the books again will be the movie characters.

Answer 8

Absouletly Not! If the movie is one of those kiddy books that are like 2 pages long, i don't see how they could drag it out to be 1 1/2 hours long, but those books that have over 500 pages there is no way that they could get all the info in, its not possible unless they made the movie 5 hours long, take Harry Potter, in every single one of the movies, They left out a TON of info. Plus i haven't seen it, but i don't imagine the Da Vinci code is much better.

Answer 9

Usually the books are much better than the movies, because you have more time in a day to sit down and read than you do when you go to the movie theater to see a movie. So in the end the book has more details than they can put in a movie.

Answer 10

Depends on the movie. For example, Lord of the Rings was pretty close though it missed major plot points towards the end for obvious reasons but on the other hand Ella Enchanted and the Bourne movies (Supremacy and Identity) didn't follow the books, AT ALL! It really depends on the the screenwriter and then the dirsctor and other crew members. Not to mention the fans of the books to tell you all the things they missed ;)