Seems to me there've been a ton of book to film adaptations lately - guess it's always been the case but haven't noticed it until now! What're some of your favorite adaptations? LOTR trilogy is a given for me.
Seems to me there've been a ton of book to film adaptations lately - guess it's always been the case but haven't noticed it until now! What're some of your favorite adaptations? LOTR trilogy is a given for me.
I love the Harry Potter movies. Of course, they aren't as good as the books themselves, but they do add such magic and wonder to the series and they keep getting better and better.
Which is your favorite HP adaptation?
I think my favorite has to be this last movie, Order of the Phoenix. I loved the directing and I think the music is outstanding. Plus, I just love to hate Umbridge.
The 1978 version of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS remains one of my favorite films of all time, and I think it surpasses Jack Finley's great "Body Snatchers" novel. However, in terms of films that are extremely faithful to the source material, I think David Cronenberg's take on Stephen King's "The Dead Zone" is unbelievably brilliant, and incredibly close to the original novel.
Lord of the Rings definitely pops into mind. Those movies were absolutely amazing. I have never read the Harry Potters so I can't comment on how faithfully they were adapted. But movies that I think have to be mentioned are the 2 Chronicles of Narnia Movies. They were both superior there novel counterparts. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movie fleshed out the story a whole lot more than the novel did and gave you great visuals to put into a world that needed a lot of color and character. Prince Caspian the movie was so much better to me than the book. The book was decent but all the additional story that they added to the movie and the fantastic fight scenes made it a great movie as it was. They followed the book really closely as well but did a much better job telling the story and adding little bits to it. It seemed to me after watching those movies and reading all of the novels that I could read the book in less time took to watch the movie and I would get less of the story. Great movies and great books but the films are just better and they follow the novels really close.
I was just going to ask about the Narnia adaptations! Haven't seen any myself but was curious about Prince Caspian in particular. Seems like I should go out and rent it! How was the acting?
Although I don't think it was as good as the book (which is so often the case, no?), Jurassic Park stands out as being a truly fantastic film. The special effects at the time were outstanding (and still hold up), it was scary, action-packed, and a whole lot of fun. This was probably the first movie I saw multiple times in the theater, and it remains a favorite.
Christine the acting was very well done in the Narnia movies. And the children they cast for the roles did an amazing job. Will they be winning any Oscars? No, but they still did very well. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of Edmund.
The SciFi channels movie versions of Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were very close to the original, a lot better the the David Lynch movie I feel. Blade Runner is one of my favourite movies of all time, though it is quite different from 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'.
I think that's the benefit to having a genre specific television station like SciFi (which, in all honesty, should do something to acknowledge all the fantasy it does, but whatever): they can commit to longer adaptations and break them up a bit.
I haven't seen the Dune movies, but I'm guessing that they made them into an event like that? If you can get past the difference in graphics quality, and I don't think it's as big a hurdle as some might imagine, then you can be treated to a well-adapted made-for-TV film.
At least, that's my two cents.
I second Keith's mention of Blade Runner. Great film, great script. Though by no means a "best," and despite its leading man, I thought Minority Report was another pretty solid Philip K. Dick adaptation.
The Green Mile gets my vote. And although not sci-fi/fantasy, Mystic River was also very faithful. Sean Penn's character looked exactly like I saw the character in my head.