I just finished Twilight and with all the hype that the movie version is getting, I’m starting to get a little worried about the movie. The novel was really good, so good that I went out bought the second novel, that I’m afraid that the movie won’t be as good. I’m a fan of the Harry Potter books and not all of those movies have been good to date. The third one (Prisoner of Azkaban) was horrendous in my opinion. They left out or changed so much that it seemed like I spent the movie trying to figure out what they left out then enjoying it. Don’t get me wrong, the characters were great, but they butchered the novel. Could this happen with Twilight?
I think the problem with making books into movies is that fans tend to get a specific….vision of the book in their head and the film industry can’t compete with it. There’s no way to take everyone’s idea of who looks like what and all of the events and still make it an entertaining movie. Or at least something that will make money. Plus, there is definitely a difference between reading a scene and watching it play out. You can never get as descriptive in a movie as one can in a book. Everything doesn’t always match up in my opinion. Again, it goes back to that idea that everyone imagines the book differently.
So what does everyone else think? Are there movie versions of books that are good or have they completely flopped? Why do you think it’s hard to translate a book into film?
I really liked Stardust–the move and the book. I think in the movie they really zeroed in on some things that were a tad confusing (for me) in the book. So, in that case I thought boiling things down a bit was good. But I really liked the book too…And I’m glad I read the book first. I’m of the always-read-the-book-first school.
There have been some books I loved (LOTR) but I never actually sat down and watched the movies. I don’t know why…we own all of them and my husband and daughter watch them (multiple times), but I just don’t really want to.