Thursday, November 14, 2013

Follow Friday: When the Film Rocks More Than the Book!

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

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

Okay, let me just say that, with most of these, I haven't read the books. But I've hear what was different in the books, or how they changed the ending, and just know that the movie makers had a clearer image of things than the author did.
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1. The Princess Bride--Because who doesn't absolutely LOVE this film? Besides, I've heard that Wesley (as the Dread Pirate Roberts) was quite abusive to Buttercup in the book. While, given the character, I suppose I understand why the author did it that way, I still prefer a more lovable Wesley.
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 2. The Neverending Story--I grew up on this movie! Even today, though the special effects are definitely dated, the story is still ridiculously profound. I actually did read the book of this one, and I'll admit it might have been a translation problem, as the original was written in German, but I found the book to be clunky and not nearly as good as the film, even if I'm glad I read it to get some bits that didn't make it into the movie.

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3. Hannibal--Again, didn't read this, but I know the author--*warning: spoilers coming! skip to next paragraph if you don't want to know!*--had Clarice run away with Hannibal at the end of this book. I don't know how he did the character in the books. Maybe it was different than the films (though everything I've heard says not) but in the films, she was all cop. She was on the right side of the law and was not going to be moved. To have her run away with a serial killer who eats people, has murdered many of her colleagues, and she's been trying to catch for ten years, was not just unrealistic. It was ludicrous! The end of the film was shocking too, but in a good way. A way that made sense. In terms of staying true to the character, the film makers definitely had a better handle on things than the author did.
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4. My Sister's Keeper--this is another one I didn't read but heard how the book ended, and my first thought was, Well that's stupid. Here's the thing, I've tried to read Jodi Piccoult once or twice, and I truly want to give her work another shot, but I've never actually finished one of her books. But, I have heard a lot about her stories; heard some of her more interesting premises and how they've ended, and I gotta say: I'm not a fan. She feels like the kind of author that does the twisted, unexpected thing just to get the gasp from the audience. That sort of thing always feels cheap to me, and that's when you stray into territory that doesn't stay true to the characters or the story. The film of My Sister's Keeper was one of the saddest films I've ever seen. If you're gonna watch it, do so with some chocolate and an entire case of tissue. But it's still a touching, worthwhile story.  I hugely preferred the ending of the film to the ending of the book!
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5. Breaking Dawn--You knew I had to mention it, right? I've talked about this before, but I really liked the Twilight series while I was reading it...until I got to the very end of the fourth book (i.e. the very end of the series!). She basically set us up for an epic battle, but when we got there, everyone just sort of laughed, shook hands, and went home. I was SO disappointed! It felt like SUCH a cop out. But the film handled it really well, giving us a twist that didn't actually change the ending, yet was still exciting and made the audience sit up and go, "What the...?" Well done, film makers. Well done!

Well, those are the ones that came to mind for me. What films did you like better than their literary counterparts?

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13 comments :

  1. aimee can readNovember 14, 2013 at 9:24 PM

    I tried reading The Princess Bride but got bored after a while. I didn't know of the movie! I haven't read Breaking Dawn (I've only read until New Moon), but the movie was great! New bloglovin follower!

    My FF Post

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  2. Alison Can ReadNovember 14, 2013 at 9:25 PM

    Hopping through. Ah yes, I did love the twist in the Breaking Dawn movie. Even though it nearly gave me a heart attack at the time.
    My FF

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  3. UnknownNovember 14, 2013 at 10:30 PM

    I totally agree with the "What the..?" comment regarding the end of Breaking Dawn. I remember sitting in the cinema thinking those exact words.
    Happy Friday :)

    My FF @ Marilyn's Mystery Blog

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  4. Jessica @ a GREAT readNovember 15, 2013 at 4:38 AM

    I did love the movie The Princess Bride. Probably more than the book because I had seen it a 1000 times before ever reading it!

    Here's my Follow Friday

    Have a GREAT weekend!

    Old Follower :)

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  5. Linda @ (un)Conventional BookwormsNovember 15, 2013 at 7:20 AM

    I haven't read the Princess Bride, nor watched the movie. I have read Breaking Dawn, but not watched the movies...
    I hope you'll have a great weekend, Liesel!
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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  6. UnknownNovember 15, 2013 at 8:37 AM

    Oh, I loved the Breaking Dawn movie! Haven't read the other books. :(
    My FF is here.

    New follower via GFC. :)

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  7. RainyNovember 15, 2013 at 8:52 AM

    I loved The Neverending Story too. I never thought of just including the ending of Breaking Dawn. I remember being in the theater thinking what the hell is going on? But yea I agree with you on that one... just the ending. New GFC follower. My FF

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  8. UnknownNovember 15, 2013 at 12:33 PM

    I actually do NOT like The Princess Bride. I probably shouldn't say that too loudly, as all the women will start to rally and grab their pitchforks, but I just didn't like it. :/ I loved the NeverEnding Story though and I still watch it with my kids to this day. :)

    New Follower!

    Here's my #FF!

    Melissa @Stalked! Reviews by Melissa

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  9. Charnell @ Reviews from a BookwormNovember 15, 2013 at 3:41 PM

    Great answer. I hated the ending to the last Twilight film as well, so anti-climatic. They did it so much better in the movie! I haven't read or seen The Princess Bride! Eeeek bad I know. Oh my god I LOVE the NeverEnding Story, such an amazing movie - haven't read the book though. Great picks. New GFC and Twitter follower. My F&FF.

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  10. Jenelle LeanneNovember 15, 2013 at 3:51 PM

    Amen to #2!!!
    With Twilight, I thought the book was better... but neither was stellar to begin with so...

    Who ARE all these people who've never read or seen The Princess Bride? Craziness.

    Erm... Westley was abusive to Buttercup in the book? I've read it a lot and someone is reading WAY more into it than is actually there. Can't recall anything that could be called "abusive." shrug. The book is quite humorous, for me personally it's a toss-up...

    Others... hmmm. Possibly the Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews/Jane Seymour/Ian McKellan (but it's a toss-up, I think the movie does win just a little bit). Oh, I thought the movie Jurassic Park was way better than the book (but I did love the book). Any movie based off of a Charles Dickens novel wins hands-down in my book hahaha, pun!

    Another toss up for me would be Bridge to Terabithia - both movie and book are really excellent.


    Fun post topic!

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  11. Jenelle LeanneNovember 15, 2013 at 3:53 PM

    Really feel like I need to go watch My Sister's Keeper (it's been on my list for a while) now. I read the book and while the ending was super sad... so was the entire book. I thought the ending was quite well-done (caveat, I usually stick to fantasy and am not by any means a crazy-rabid Judy Picoult fan, this is the only book of hers I've read) and fit the story. Now I'm extra curious about the movie!

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  12. Alex J. CavanaughNovember 16, 2013 at 6:53 AM

    You should read The Princess Bride. It's just as good but for different reasons.
    LOTR trilogy was much better in movie form than in book form.

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  13. UnknownNovember 16, 2013 at 2:36 PM

    The only book I've read from your list is Breaking Dawn, but I've never seen the movie (I stopped watching them after New Moon tbh) and totally agree about the cop out! She kept doing that throughout the series and seriously had me frustrated! i watched my Sister's Keep er but never read the book either but I have a gist of what changes were made and I think I would prefer the movie in that case!

    New follower via GFC :)
    www.moodylions.com

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