Feature and Follow Friday: Film Adaptations Better Than The Book (5)

Posted by Nemo in Uncategorized on

Alison Can Read Feature & Follow

Feature & Follow Friday is a book blogger hop hosted by Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read.
It showcases bloggers and is a way to find more blogs to follow!
Please drop by Parajunkee’s View and Alison Can Read to find other participants in Feature & Follow Friday!

This week’s topic:

Are there any book to movie adaptations where you think the movie is better than the book?

Certainly! I have the ability to separate the two mediums, and often the film has to be told in a different way because it’s a completely different medium, so often when people ask me ‘which was better’ I explain that by necessity they are different, and it’s difficult and unfair to compare.

However I am very vocal when it comes to disagreeing with people that ‘the book is always better.’ Uh, no. Here are my top three ‘the film is better than the book’ films:

The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings trilogy. All three of them. Boring assed, dry, textbook-like books. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh were absolute geniuses at deciding what the keep and what to toss (Tom Bombadil, for example). Changing Shelob’s place in the films and moving Boromir’s death are also awesome moves that made the film better by upping the stakes and giving actual climaxes. Having a sexy young cast like 18 year old Elijah Wood instead of someone in their 30s or 50s playing Frodo. All of these are good ideas.

Sex and the CitySex and the City. I barely remember the book, that’s how bad it was. And yes, it’s more like the TV was based on the book and the film based on the TV show, but yeah. The book wasn’t even really fiction – it wasn’t linear, not a good story overall. More like a bunch of collected thoughts serialised week by week. A disjointed collection of reminiscences. This does not a good book make. The film, which shared nothing with the book except a few characters and a name, was infinitely better.

The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2)The Silence of the Lambs. The book was pretty awful. I hated the film and never want to see it ever again, but it was still better than the book. And I say that as someone who hates horror films.

Nemo
Nemo

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.

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24 thoughts on “Feature and Follow Friday: Film Adaptations Better Than The Book (5)”

  1. Kathryn

    I can agree with Lord of the Rings to a point. There’s just something about the books that makes them just as good as the movies though.

    Happy #FF!

    1. Nemo

      Thank you! I just really hated the book. Hated it. The film was well-made and worked as a thriller/horror, and I understand why the Oscars were won. But I didn’t much enjoy it, either!

  3. Whitney

    I love the LOTR novels but understand how they can appear textbooky. I think their adaptations are top notch and agree with everything yousaid.

    1. Nemo

      Thank you so much! It’s always risky coming out to say a film is better than the book, especially when it comes to such a dearly beloved classic.

  4. Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

    Eh, I haven’t watched LotR, and I wasn’t able to read the books. I haven’t read Sex in the City, and I didn’t enjoy the TV show… So I guess I can’t really comment on this.
    I do have a movie I enjoyed almost as much as the book, though 🙂
    Have a great weekend! I’m a new Bloglovin follower.

    1. Nemo

      I’m surprised you haven’t seen LoTR. I guess I kind of assume everyone has, what with all the Oscars the third one won. But no worries! Thanks for the follow!

    1. Nemo

      That’s so awesome! I think I just lost patience with LoTR even though fantasy is my favourite genre.

      Thank you for the follow!

  7. Melissa

    I suppose I can’t really comment on this because I have seen the LOTR movies but not read the books, I’ve seen the Sex and the City movie but I hated the show and never read the books, and I like Silence of the lambs movie but never read the book. lol

    New Follower.

    Here’s my #FF!

    Melissa @Stalked! Reviews by Melissa

  9. Reviews From A Bookworm

    Great choices! I absolutely love, love, love the LOTRs, but as I haven’t read the books I can’t comment on which is better. Although I have still not read the books because I am sure they will be a huge disappointment. New Bloglovin and Twitter follower. My F&FF.

    1. Nemo

      I think it depends on whether or not you like fantasy and the style it’s written in. I didn’t hate the books, but I found the films superior in every way. Thank you for the follow!

  10. Nikita

    Hi,

    Some pretty interesting picks..I also picked LOTR 🙂
    Silence of the lambs movie adaptation was pretty good…I liked the actor performances..:)
    This is my first Friday Feature and Follow participation and I am so excited..:)
    Great blog..Have followed you on twitter and via Bloglovin..:
    Checkout my blog too at http://njkinny.blogspot.in
    Happy #FF!

  11. Lizzy'

    Oooh……

    …….

    Okay, I’ll “pretend” like you didn’t insult Silence of the Lambs trilogy. At least you didn’t say Hannibal movie was better than the book, since…they freaking changed the ending. Hannibal and Clarise are suppose to end up together.

    <– totally did NOT have a weird obsession with Hannibal as a teen

    1. Nemo

      I didn’t insult the trilogy, I insulted one book and one film I had to read as part of a tertiary course 😛 i did not enjoy them. I’m glad you did!

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