Better than the book?

[MoonDoggie]

Like most avid readers I usually say, "The book is so much better than the movie." However, there have been times when I actually liked the movie better than the book. The Postman is one of them and Practical Magic is another. In both cases I saw the movie first and decided to read the book afterwards.

How about the rest of you? Do you think it matters which you're exposed to first?

[phil_geo]

Quitters Inc. is a Stephen King story from the movie Cats Eye that I thought was compelling and had a shocking twist at the end in the movie, but was just "meh" when I read it.

I'll go so far to say that Starship Troopers was a great summer action flick, better than the book for excitement and action. I'm not saying this movie was better than the book in general, but they made the movie that a lot of people wanted and did a good job.

[Loerwyn]

I'm not really of the idea that adaptations are necessarily worse than the text they're from. See, what happens is people have their own ideas, visions and so forth and in a bizarre way it colours what they see because it's not their interpretation.

I enjoyed the three Narnia films, Coraline, The Black Cauldron, No Country For Old Men, True Grit (the recent one) and other interpretations though I wouldn't say they were better than the book (if I'd read it).

One of the few that was at least on the same level as the book that I know of is Persepolis, and it has to be watched in French.

[SilentDan]

Lord of the Rings.

What?

[JimF]

I thought the Watchman movie was better than the graphic novel, but only by a little. I never really liked the squid.

[Aktunka]

I felt that both the movie and book versions of Watchmen had strengths and weaknesses, but the endings, I felt that the movie version was far better than the alien squid thing in the book.

If you want a great example of a show that actually surpasses the written material, look no further than True Blood. Don't get me wrong, I also own the books and enjoy them, but the show brings so many of the characters to life in a way that you don't get in the books. Also, the show has trimmed out a lot of the unneeded stuff from the books.

[roozmarry871]

Lord of the Rings.

What?

Lord of the Ring is a movie, and its very nice and good movie i really like it..

[DailyRich]

I have to agree with Action Avenue, the novel Jaws is pretty weak sauce. There's just no build to it. Hooper's affair with Brody's wife is laughable, as is the subplot of the mayor wanting to keep the beaches open because he needs the money to pay his mob debts. And in the end, the shark just sinks because they finally injured it enough. Really unsatisfying.