Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Movies and Books

All right, chickadees, I've got some news.  My email has been tainted with a nasty spam virus, so I've had to open up a new account.  From now on, please contact me at emilywhite_1112(at)yahoo(dot)com.  The difference is very subtle--the underscore comes after the name, not in between.





For some reason, every time we saw that a book has been turned into a movie, we jump up and down in excitement, buy our tickets, and watch said movie with great anticipation.  And yet, the movie hardly ever stands up to our expectations.  The director and script writer took liberties we feel should never have been taken.  The heroine does not look like how we imagined her to be.  Etc.  So why go?

There's just something about finally seeing with our eyes the vision the author had.  I, for one, am willing to go through the disappointing parts just to be able to live through that world I loved so much in a new way.  I never missed an opening day for any of the LOTR movies (though I was extremely disappointed with where Peter Jackson took The Two Towers) and tomorrow I will be going to see Eclipse.  

I have watched the trailers several times since they've come out and have been twiddling my fingers in anticipation.  And yet, I don't really know why.  Since reading the series, the movies have kind of ticked me off.  Bella is far more tomboyish than she should be and it seems pretty clear the script writer is on team Jacob.  The movies have given the impression that Jacob has a better chance than he actually does.  And Edward (though he does lose his temper on several occasions), ends up losing his cool during parts in the movie where he was particularly calm (on the outside) in the book.  It wouldn't be that big of a deal if it weren't made a big deal in the book.

But I'll live through it and perhaps enjoy it enough to give a proper review on Thursday.  

You tell me.  What books you loved were made into movies?  Did they disappoint or were they just what you always hoped?

~Emily White

9 comments:

  1. Personally I felt that the LOTR trilogy was done quite well, especially in the extended directors cut DVDs. Did it actually live up to the books? No. But that's simply not possible. No film will ever live up to the book, especially a great book.

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  2. Well, I won't lament the tragedy that was Goblets of Fire. That would take pages and pages. My biggest disappointment was when one of my all time favorite books became a lame B movie: Watchers, by Dean Koontz. No greater botch-up of a good book has ever existed.

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  3. Matthew--I was very impressed with the extended version of the trilogy (in fact, they're all I watch now). However, the theater version of The Two Towers disappointed me. I was really looking forward to the trees attacking the Uruk-Hai at the end of the movie and when it didn't happen, I was mad. Add to that the wolves attacking the people and I was livid.

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  4. I used to sit in the movie theater and tell my sister everything that was wrong with the movie throughout it if I had already read the book, and she would finally get irritated and tell me to just stop seeing the movies. For the most part I try to follow that (I refused to see The Lovely Bones or My Sister's Keeper because I love the books so so much). But October Sky, in my opinion, was as good a movie as a book. And even though Harry Potter can never compare to the books I've enjoyed each of the movies. My favorite quote is "Don't judge a book by its movie."

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  5. L.Hild--That's a great quote! I'll have to remember it! :D

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  6. I enjoyed all of the LOTR movies, even with the differences from the books. I enjoy books and movies on different levels, so I generally enjoy adaptations that others (my brother, especially) tend to nit-pick.
    So far, I've loved the Narnia films, and I think it's because the director, Andrew Adamson (who also did the first two Shrek movies) has said that he's not making direct adaptations of the books, he's making films of his memories of reading the books as a child, which I think keeps the sense of wonder and adventure from the books intact.

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  7. The Narnia movies, I believe, are the best film adaptation of books I've seen. They truly captured the essence of what C.S. Lewis was trying to convey.

    I can't wait for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to come out.

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  8. i try to look at it like art. if you are drawing something off a ref photo, you don't expect the image you're making to be an exact copy of the original. what would be the point in that? movies and books are two completely different mediums.reading gives our imaginations freedom, but movies dictate each image. it's a much less liberating form of media to enjoy. that said i already have my ticket for eclipse bought.

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  9. Of the Harry Potter series, the two closest book-to-movies were the first two. Three was my biggest disappointment. But Snape has never let me down. Alan Rickman rocks!

    LotR was wonderful in movie, biggest disappointment was cutting out the razing of the Shire, knew it was going to be hacked off in Two Towers when they killed off Saruman. Sigh.

    Ella Enchanted gives me mixed feelings. I LOVE the book. Discovered it in my college library. Then the movie came out. I was so excited. Here's the mixed feelings part. The movie was hilarious, fun music, Eric Idle as narrator, lovely sets. But. It has only the barest resemblance to the book. If they had given the movie a different name and said "loosely based on..." I would have been fine with it. But that was not the story of the book. (And I liked book-Prince Charmont better.)

    I am soooo looking forward to the last Harry Potter movies. Saw a preview online last night. It looks so cooool. 3D! Squeeeeeee!!!!!

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