The Best and Worst Movie Adaptations
Adaptations have been common in film for a long time, but over the last few years we’ve seen some of the most spectacular films (and dreadful flops) adapted from our favourite books.
Here are our best and worst movie adaptations of recent years.
Movies as Good as the Books
Since everyone interprets stories differently, book to film adaptations have a hard time trying to please everyone. But every now and then there are movie adaptations of books that just feel right, even if they aren’t what you imagined in your head.
Here are our 3 best movie adaptations:
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011)
An American remake of the bestseller’s original Swedish adaptation, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo had a lot of great source material to work with, and didn’t waste it. The cast, direction and soundtrack combine to make a chilling, gripping film of secrets and revenge that everyone should see.
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (2013)
Not only was Catching Fire a faithful adaptation of the book, it was such a strong film in its own right that you didn’t even need to have seen the first one. Jennifer Lawrence perfectly portrays Katniss Everdeen as strong and smart while remaining very relatable and human.
"Life of Pi" (2012)
This supposedly unadaptable story of a young man struggling to survive in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger translated to screen better than anyone could have imagined. Themes of religion and cooperation with nature hit just right, and it ends leaving you wondering which parts weren’t exactly as they appeared.
Adaptations That Shouldn’t Have Happened
Some adaptations are so bad, they make it hard for us to even go back to the book we loved in the first place.
Here are our 3 worst book to movie adaptations:
"The Great Gatsby" (2013)
Baz Luhrmann’s take on the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic misses the point entirely, capturing the glitter and spectacle of the 1920s elite, but none of the social critique on the pursuit and corruption of wealth.
"The Hobbit" (2012)
While the Lord of the Rings trilogy was unquestionably lengthy, there was always enough going on to justify the screen time. The Hobbit, however, is a bit lighter on meaningful content and so really starts to drag. Spinning it into an entire trilogy feels like more of a financial decision than a creative one.
Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 (2011)
Atlas Shrugged has its share of supporters, but even the most positive reviews admit that the film remains inferior to the book, and doesn’t stand well by itself. This is largely blamed on the budget being too low to do justice to Ayn Rand’s 1,168 page novel, and splitting the content into three films hasn’t seemed to help.
