Kevin's Watch

Compare a book you've read with the movie made from it.

A movie made from a book has to really work hard for me to like it, but sometimes it happens.

For example.

Children of Men. The book (by P.D. James) was amazing, and I thought the film was great too, even though they are quite different. The book contains a characterization element that the film misses out on-- the main character (Neil) deciding to take the glory/control of leading the new era for himself. While a fascinating and unexpected turn, the film makes a respectable choice in Neil's conviction that the mother of the child must retain control of her fate. I also loved that his friend Victor was a dope-smoking nutter, crazy like a fox, and that the mother was a Caribbean refugee. Both film and book have their own merits.

H.G. Wells War of the Worlds - Wells take on an alien invasion from Mars was groundbreaking for its time and I on my first reading (I think I was about I devoured the volume in record time.

I have seen a number of film adaptations for the source material and though I have enjoyed them all to one degree or another I do not believe Hollywood has quite managed to capture the spirit of the book entirely.

Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
This is one of those rare moments where the film just gets it right. I would almost say the film was better, mainly because the sensuality of the film drives home more than the book, but the quirkiness of the author is more evident in the book form. I will admit I saw the film first, which sometimes ruins the film when I do it in the opposite order.

I have it on good authority that Michael Crichton's novel Congo was awesome but the film adaptation was insulting.

I was quite young when I read Crichton's Andromeda Strain, I guess about 13 or even younger. So the movie was confusing to me. I suppose it was the first book-turned-movie I had ever experienced. I think I enjoyed the movie more when I saw it later on, but it taught me that the book is always going to be richer in detail and far more fine-grained than the film.

I read the F. Paul Wilson novel The Keep which I thought was very entertaining and engrossing. However the film adaptation left something to be desired. The movie's biggest issue was clearly the budget though in some cases it captured the eerie texture of the story quite well but at the end of the day it is a rather forgettable film.

I've read Watership Down three times and seen the movie based on it (by director Martin Rosen in 1978) the same number of times.

The movie's decent, but can't hold a candle to the awesome book.

<i>Bladerunner</i> doesn't follow the events of the book, but it maintains the philosophy and ambiguity that made the book interesting.

I'm actually reading a book of Phillip K. Dick stories currently. He pretty much set the tone for every dystopian film or book that has come after.

House of Sand and Fog. One case where the movie was actually more satisfying than the book! Although I didn't care that much for Ben Kingsley's representation of the Iranian general (which I felt lacked nuance) and it really bugged me that the hijabs were so carelessly tied (besides which, Iranian women wear chador, not hijab) the movie neutralized what I found frustrating about the book's ending; which was the lack of insight or transformation of the main character in spite of what it all cost.

Spoiler

I loved the closing line of the movie: "This is not my house." Nailed it.

Ender's Game!
I've read the book once and seen the movie once.
It's about intelligent children, among other things.

I -loved- the book so much.
The way Colonel Graff was managing the relationships between the kids in the first minute when they were going to launch to the space station.
The way Ender fought for friendships.
The way Ender had to fight for respect, and how it made him more effective in the end.
The way Ender led.
The fact Ender burned out.
The relationships between him, his sister Valentine, and his older brother Peter.
The way Valentine and Peter (while also children) went ahead and saved the world from war and chaos by debating people on the internet.
Ender having his team.
The crazy mentor.
The moral quandry unveiled at the end.
Oh - I left out the ultimate paradigm of quickly mentally re-orienting yourself when major rules - i.e. gravity - suddenly change:
"The enemy's gate is down."

And... apparently movies fall right out of my head.
Darn. I don't remember much.
Anyway, I enjoyed it!
The nurse lying to Ender in the office (opening scene) made me just as angry as in the book version, so that was well-done.
And watching an old Harrison Ford slowly get fat through the stress of his experience of trying to save humanity (just like Graff in the books) was condign.
Ender looked convincingly like a sweet little boy.
I think their Petra Arkanian was awesome.
I missed the Valentine-and-Peter-save-the-world arc, but s'okay.

Read Pet Semitary and The Outsiders way before I've seen the movies.
Those films followed those books really close to the books,
almost word for word.
The Mist is that list too.

Princess Bride is a good book and the movie is also good

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever books are awesome, but the movies are...
Oh yeah, never mind.

Ball Gown down the Ball Gown. Violet your Violet, Violet!
Ball Gown down the Ball Gown. Violet your Violet, Violet!
Ball Gown down the Ball Gown. Violet your Violet, Violet!