Movies that were Better than the Book

[Renkon Root]

Yes, they exist, movies that are actually better than the books off of which they are based.

Post about what movies you've seen that were better than the original book they were based off of.

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

The Harry Potter movies, for sure. Ha, and the Da Vinci Code.  

[Renkon Root]

Sanguina Cruenta

The Harry Potter movies, for sure. Ha, and the Da Vinci Code.

Uhmn... I'd have to disagree on the Harry Potter movies. The thing that made the books so appealing was the daily banter. It was basically a high-school drama with magic. But the movies cut out all that school room banter and stuff, only leaving in the bare plot and a handful of poorly chosen and ill executed jokes. But if you personally feel the movies were better than the books that's perfectly fine.

I would have to say that The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) starring Jane Seymour, Anthony Andrews and Ian McKellen was far better than the book. However, that particular version of the movie combined two separate books from the series (The Scarlet Pimpernel and Eldorado).

 

[Shearaha]

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The book just really dragged for me, while the movie kept a very nice pace throughout. That's really my only reason though.  

[xxEverBluexx]

I've been locked inside that house, all the while You hold key
And I've been dying to get out, though that might be the death of me

Because of Winn Dixie and How To Train Your Dragon
Because of Winn Dixie I read in elementary school and couldn't really get into but when the movie came out I actually liked it. As for How To Train Your Dragon; the movie was pure brillance. The book was okay, but the movie was so worth seeing, if only for the cg animation.

And does manga/anime count? Because it'd probably be really easy to find anime that's better then it's manga counterparts. Romeo x Juliet comes to mind (because that's what I'm currently hooked on XD ), because while the person who drew the manga does draw the characters better, the manga cuts out a lot of stuff. The scenery in the anime is also way better...I could ramble on about how I love the anime and why it's better then both the play it was based on and the manga, but I'll spare you. sweatdrop

And all I'm asking is for You to do what you can with me
But I can't ask You to give what You already gave

 

[Renkon Root]

Shearaha

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The book just really dragged for me, while the movie kept a very nice pace throughout. That's really my only reason though.

Oh god YES! biggrin

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

I hate Harry Potter because I can't stand the way that woman writes. In the movies I don't have to listen to her crap, so while I still don't like the characters or the story, I like the score and the way it's visually crafted.

I never read Lord of the Rings >.> Loved the movies, but I got about 100 pages into Fellowship and they were still walking along this unending damn road and I got bored with it. Dear god that man doesn't half go on.  

[Renkon Root]

Sanguina Cruenta

I never read Lord of the Rings >.> Loved the movies, but I got about 100 pages into Fellowship and they were still walking along this unending damn road and I got bored with it. Dear god that man doesn't half go on.

Pff, 100 pages in they had just finished the Party.

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

I thought that was the Hobbit? (Another book I never finished...)  

[Renkon Root]

Sanguina Cruenta

I thought that was the Hobbit? (Another book I never finished...)

Nope, there were no parties in The Hobbit. There were dinners and schemeings, but no real "parties". (Except for Thranduil's parties in Merkwood. The sindarin from the woodland realm are really big on parties and drinking and stuff like that. But Bilbo and the Dwarfs were never invited to any of them. The elves' were just hospitable enough to lodge them in the dungeons.)

The very first chapter in Fellowship is called "The Long Expected Party", its Bilbo's 111th birthday party where he announces that he's leaving the Shire and Bagend goes to Frodo. You might remember the scene from the movie where Merry and Pippin steal a firework that looks like a dragon.

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Yeah, I recalled that after I posted. I thought there was a party at the beginning of the Hobbit, when all these random dwarfs and stuff turned up and ate all Bilbo's food. Maybe it was technically a dinner or whatever but I interpreted it as a party when I read it. wink

Maybe I'd read more than I thought! All I remember is that there was a road they were on, and it went on goddamn forever, and I got fed up. It was like the beginning of Les Mis, when he spends like 70 pages describing a character that doesn't appear in the novel after the first scene.  

[Renkon Root]

To be completely honest, the first time I ever read the trilogy I quit. It was at Weathertop (ya know, that place where Frodo got stabbed in the shoulder/chest). I just got so very frustrated when Tolkien paused in the middle of the fight to dictate the history of the sword that was stabbing Frodo.

I know Tolkien's all into detail and history and all that jazz, and to be fair, that's one of the things I love about the books. But don't interrupt a fight for a history lesson. Give us the swords history either before of after the fight, not during. That scene after the fight, where Aragorn was explaining that the blade was steeped in evil or whatever would have been the perfect place for it. Of course, don't have Aragorn be the one to explain it, he obviously wouldn't know the whole history of the sword. But it would have been the perfect place to slip it into the narration.

So, yeah. The first time I read the books I quit right there. And I didn't pick them back up again until they started advertising for the first movie.

.... ... .. . And now I'm the Tolkien equivalent of a "Trekie".

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Haha, yeah, Hugo does the same thing! He interrupts the narrative to give us two chapters on the history of Waterloo. Like, seriously? I get that the life story of the Bishop was actually relevant to the novel and the understanding of it all. But I really don't care quite that much about Waterloo.  

[Renkon Root]

Speaking of Les Mis', that was another movie I enjoyed more than the book (the Liam Nieson version). It was fabulous!

 

[Kuudere-senpai]

Pride and Prejudiced ~ LOVE LOVE the movie. :'3 I have the book too, but its super old and falling apart. I hope this counts, cause the book and movie are pretty much the exact same. o.< But the movie was awesome cause of the visuals, very pleasing to see the characters, and their reactions. Probably the only movie I like with Keira Knightly in it. Lol.