Why is the book always so much better than the movie?

Question

Every book i have read & then watched the movie it didn't even compare. And it's not because I knew how the movie would end already. I think Books are just so much more descriptive.

Answer 1

The book is more descriptive and you can get into the characters' thoughts - you cannot do that in a movie unless there is a voiceover.

One of the best book to movies that I have seen is "The Stand". When I read this in high school I thought that they would never be able to make it into a movie because of the complexities of the stories. Making it into a mini-series was brilliant and it stayed completely true to the book.

Answer 2

Think about how long it takes to read a novel. Then think about how long it takes to watch the movie. It's not even close. If the movie were allotted the time to go over every detail the book does, the movies might be better. But for now, the standard limit for how long a novel can be is around 600-700 pages, or not as many people will buy it. As far as movies go, they have to be within 3-3.5 hours long, with many being as short as 1.5 hours, to fit within the standards that the production companies and theatres want.

For a movie to go over the detail that a book does, it would take 10-15 hours. That's why there is so much cut out of the movies - there is not going to be a 10-15 hour movie, nobody would go see it - and why there must be so much left out of the movie.

Answer 3

Three reasons:
1) Actors seldom read the book. It is not that important to them.
2) Money-some scenes are simply too fantastic to re-create because of the cash factor.
3) Directorial Vision: Directors and Producers decide what they like and take out stuff that they either don't like or think will not be important to the audience.
The Spider-man movies are a good example: they have re-written some classic stories for no other reason than the fact that no one will call them on it and they are making money. In the original "Wizard of Oz" the book is a much better, more believable story with Dorothy and her silver shoes but they changed the story because Hollywood felt that a strong female character wouldn't sell tickets. It stinks but even when the author has a strong involvement people try to re--write good novels.
-H

Answer 4

It's because the books have all the details. You can picture a more in depth movie inside your head while reading a book. The books is also much better than a movie because there is descriptive detail. It would take much longer to read a novel than to watch it in a movie put in blank hours.

The only time a movie is better is if it has amazing special effects or just cinemetography. Some movies is better than the book is 2001:A Space Oddyssey, A Clockwork Orange, etc.

Answer 5

most of the time when producing a and hour and thirty or forty minute film...they can't fit everything in the film from the book...and what ends up happening is that they water the book down so much that they leave out some really interesting story lines...its a shame...you read such a great book and than you find out they are making a movie and then watch it and its just not as good...
im sure there is a movie and a book that complements each other...

Answer 6

You hit it right on the head - the books ARE much more descriptive and can capture every nuance, emotion, can go into far more detail and depth than a film. Remember, the film viewing public attention span can very rarely go past 2 hours (with exceptions); but, in transferring the novel to film, there is this sacrifice in excising a lot of important things that makes everything click in the novel, in favor of reducing it all down to the nitty gritty (even changing some scenarios) to make it more palatable on the big screen. In all, some things are lost in translation to film, and most of us, who have read the book first, usually feel shortchanged or disappointed upon viewing the film.

Answer 7

Aside from what you said, books also leave it up to your imagination to "paint a picture" of what is taking place in the book. While the basic information is understood to be the same by everyone, each individual is allowed to see the characters how they want to see them. In a movie, the way the characters are shown is how the director or screen writers perceive them to be. Also, movies tend to leave out key elements from the books that made the book much more interesting.

Answer 8

I think because most movies don't go just like what is written in the book. I know I love the book "The Notebook", but the movie was very different and I didn't like it as well.

Answer 9

I agree. I almost never see a movie if I've read the book first. Have you ever read a book, and then seen the movie, and we're completely confused? Sometimes they're so different!

Answer 10

There are some movies better than the books, ones that have great direction.
Examples are 2001 -Space Odyssey, Mary Poppins, Lawrence of Arabia, Shrek, etc.