25 Movies That Shattered The “Book Is Better” Myth
It’s a commonly held belief that “the book is always better than the movie,” but sometimes, a film adaptation surpasses its literary origin. Recently, a Reddit user posed the question : “People always say ‘the book’s better than the movie’ – well, what movie is actually better than the book?”
The responses were filled with passionate opinions, and here are some of the top picks from the discussion.
#1
Forrest Gump. The book was … something.
#2
How to train your dragon franchise.
#3
Carrie. It was Kings first book and, although good, there was emotion and depth in Sissy Spacek’s portrayal that went far beyond the character in the orig story.
#4
I feel like the Princess Bride was better as a movie.
#5
Shawshank Redemption is a great movie. Book is good, as well.
#6
Shrek.
#7
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty The original text is a depressing short story of a guy dreaming of being greater than his actual tedious life. I love that movie even though it isn’t terribly popular.
#8
Fight Club.
#9
Casino Royale – the improved Felix Leiter character makes it infinitely more interesting, buttressed by an amazing performance from Jeffrey Wright.
First Blood – the book is just violence p*rn.
LOTR – ok I know this one is going to p**s a lot of people off. Tolkien never intended to write a story in the way we think of a novel/movie. I get that. He did what he was going for very well. But I find the movies more enjoyable. Sue me. That said, The Hobbit movies are garbage. Peter Jackson reached George Lucasian heights in making a prequel trilogy that’s so bad it diminishes the quality of the original. If you don’t have time to read the book and want to see it on screen, watch the Rankin Bass cartoon from the 70s.
#10
The Mist. The book is better for most of it, but the ending in the movie knocks the socks off the book ending.
#11
Godfather.
The book was obviously a best seller but it had some really – REALLY — cringe side plots (involving huge d***s and huge vags; Puzo seems to have had a fetish about outsized sex organs) which Coppola wisely dropped in the film.
#12
Silence of the Lambs. Of course it followed the book almost exactly.
#13
Jaws, in my opinion. The book is not bad, don’t get me wrong, but the characters in it are extremely unlikeable. I think Spielberg was right to eliminate some of the subplots and to buff the characters up to be more likable/relatable. Also, the end of the book kinda sucked. I won’t spoil it, but compared to the movie it’s extremely anti-climatic.
I still like both, the book is still a very good read and I understand why it was such a phenomenon, but I’ll always say the movie was better.
#14
Stand By Me (based on Stephen King’s “The Body”)… I loved the book too! But the movie is a classic to me, just perfect rendition.
#15
American Psycho.
The book really goes deep into Patrick’s obsession with fashion and dining culture. It gets a little tedious.
#16
Goodfellas (based on the novel Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi). Wiseguy is actually pretty interesting, it’s basically Henry Hill telling his own story. But Goodfellas is a masterpiece.
#17
The Children of Men. Book was good. Movie is top 20 all time.
#18
Who Framed(Censored) Roger Rabbit.
The books plot is very different, and the characters are all unlikeable. Eddie isn’t a tragic character who’s dealing with his brothers death by drinking his life away and alienating all the toons he used to befriend. He’s a hard bitten, hard drinking a*****e just because. Roger is dead, and the character who k*lled him doesn’t really make any sense. The producers of the movie took the idea of a world with toons and humans and threw away the plot. They made the right choice; the movie turned out amazing.
#19
Matilda. Danny DeVito k*lled it.
#20
No Country For Old Men is the best literal film representation of any book I’ve ever read. Both are masterpieces.
#21
Jurassic Park is a good book, but an all-time great movie.
#22
The Martian.
The book was excellent, but after a while Mark Watney started to feel like Wile E Coyote with things constantly falling on him. The movie kept just the right amount of adversity to keep the story moving along and never got too bogged down in the details the way the book sometimes did.
#23
The Devil Wears Prada.
#24
I am an avid Stephen King fan, but I have to admit, the movie version of The Shining was very good, and better IMO than the book. However, in most cases SK’s books are much better than the movies / shows / miniseries.
#25
MASH. it was a mediocre novel, but one heck of a movie and a very good TV series.
Saumya Ratan
Saumya is an explorer of all things beautiful, quirky, and heartwarming. With her knack for art, design, photography, fun trivia, and internet humor, she takes you on a journey through the lighter side of pop culture.
Quirky Movie Etiquette Slides From 1912
Going to the cinema to see the newest movie always has its pros and cons, the latter usually concerning problems with other moviegoers. As these vintage slides from 1912 by John D. Scott and Edward Van Altena show, movie etiquette seems to have always been a problem.
These slides’ respectful creators made a bunch of light-hearted movie etiquette cards in the early 1910s to promote good behavior while at the cinema by showing examples of good manners.
The Library of Congress writes: “ As middle class mass entertainments gained increasing popularity in the late nineteenth century, so did the impetus to instruct this new audience in the ways of appropriate public behavior. ”
More info: loc.gov (h/t: sobadsogood )
