-The Princess Bride (1987)
Carol's pick: Holes (2003) - based on the Newbery-winning children's novel by Louis Sachar. "You take a bad boy, make him dig holes all day in the hot sun, it turns him into a good boy. That's our philosophy here at Camp Green Lake."
Anni: Gone with the Wind, i THINK.
ReplyDeleteRachel: "Oh my God, I can't decide. Books are better than movies!"
I agree with Rachel that books are better, but The Secret Life of Bees is really good.
ReplyDeleteAnd O Brother Where Art Thou? even though the Coen brothers did not credit Homer.
Well, yes, books are better than movies! And, Leah, not to correct, but the Coen brothers did credit The Odyssey in the opening credits of the movie. Looks like you need to watch it again! My REAL choice in this category is "To Kill A Mockingbird" (also my favorite book, I think), but I already used it in the Courtroom Drama.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of movies I love that are based on books, but very few that are worthy adaptations of stories I loved first in print. Does that makes sense? A few notable exceptions:
ReplyDeleteLittle Women (Winona Ryder/Susan Sarandon version)
Holes (maybe b/c the author was the screenwriter?)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Where the Wild Things Are
Much Ado About Nothing
The Importance of Being Earnest
And there are two examples I can think of (and only two!) where I liked the movie version better than the book (but not by much, mind you):
Northanger Abbey (recent BBC version)
The Princess Bride (admittedly, I saw the movie many times before reading the book, which is also good)
The only movie I can think of at the moment that I liked better than the book was "Big Fish." The movie felt magical and sweet, the book was really different and I really didn't like it too much. Maybe because I saw the movie first?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Lord of Rings gets credit because I loved those books and still managed to love the movies even though they had to change/leave out a lot.
P.S. I agree with Holes too
I confess I have not read all of these books, but the movies make me want to: "Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day", "Million Dollar Baby", "Fried Green Tomatoes" (my all time favorite movie), "The Shawshank Redemption", "Moll Flanders"
ReplyDeleteJurassic Park is my go-to example of an exception to the rule that the book is always better then the movie. But since obscurity is encouraged, I want to point out that the Caine Mutiny is both and excellent film and book.
ReplyDelete