What is the best adaptation of a book to a movie?

[Ruba Abu Ali]

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility 1995 movie adaptation came close. Emma Thompson's portrayal of Elinor Dashwood was remarkable.The movie as a whole was able to capture the essence of that era, as well as the style and wit of Ms Austen's book.

[Allyseria]

They're not really movies, but TV series. For me, the best adaptations of a book series to a TV series are definitely the Vampire Diaries and The 100.

Has anyone tried reading the Vampire Diaries series? When I watched the series, I got excited and went to buy the books because books are usually better than their TV adaptions. But when I started reading the first book in the series, I was shocked. It was so cliche. It was probably the most cliche book I had ever read. I couldn't relate to Elena and everything she did seemed stupid to me. It was a far cry from the amazing TV series' adaptation. The actors brought their characters to life and somehow relatable despite being vampires, cheerleaders and loners.

Now onto The 100. I actually read the first and second book before realizing there was a TV series. I couldn't bring myself to read anymore in the series because the story was moving at a very slow pace. The kids didn't even arrive to Earth until ages into the story. Then when they did, I didn't understand most of the kids' decisions about how to stay alive on the ground. Their decisions seemed dumb to me and the character I hated the most was Octavia because she kept running off. But when I watched the TV series, I was amazed. They skipped the boring parts at the beginning and went straight to the kids arriving on the ground. I liked Octavia immediately and loved the fact that Clarke became the lead. She portrayed a stronger female character than her book counterpart.

But these are just my opinions. The books were bestsellers so a lot of people probably liked it.

[taffylee81]

I think the Harry Potter series was fantastic as far as movies go and stayed true to the books.

The best adaptation I have ever seen though would have to be the BBC mini-series of Pride and Prejudice. It remained true to the book and was fantastically done, and the cast was perfect. It was also long enough to cover everything in the book without leaving anything out due to time constraints.

[dbulkley]

The Hunger Games are great as recent adaptations. Classic would be To Kill a Mockingbird.

[amsula_2018]

For me it's the Lord of the Rings. It exceeded my expectations.

[amsula_2018]

For me it's the Lord of the Rings. It exceeded my expectations.

[Sophia Villo]

I have to agree with Amsula. I adore The Lord of the Rings, having read the trilogy in high school before the movies came out (but just barely). Tolkien created such a rich tapestry with his words, and the team of film makers really just added to the picture - there knowledge of one compliments the other, but both caen stand alone.

I love reading through the books now and coming across yet another chunk of text that the screenwriters lifted verbatim from the book, even while paragraphs. I think we may have Christopher Lee to thank for part of that.

[ObsessedBookNerd]

I know it’s weird but I think the 50 shades of grey trilogy. I read the books & watched the movies. I think the movies stayed pretty faithful to books & that’s why I think it’s the best. There was no point where I felt I missed a scene from the books cause they didn’t really leave anything major out. They adapted the books to the movies in a way that the loyal readers/fans didn’t feel like they were watching a different movie or important scenes where you need to know what was going on.

[Europeandescent1]

I always have difficulty answering the question "what is the best"? When I choose a book to read, I check out the opinions on this book. When I go to see a movie based on a book, I can't expect that the movie adapted the whole content. Most movies based on books may disappoint the reader who was traveling though the lines of emotions and events with the author. You can spend as much time as you want with a book.

The producer with his /her crew has only so much time and resources to convey the message. Then, if we do not find the moments that attracted us in the book, we may be disappointed in the movie and we may start defending the plot. Our approach is subjective.

Consider for example, the movie Contact based on the book with the same name by Carl Sagan. In the movie, the crucial moment revealed evidence of intelligent alien life. In the book it revealed evidence of the existence of God.

[Sharill Rasowo]

I think The Harry Potter series was adapted really well to screen. I think this was because J.K Rowling was quite involved in the process making sure the adaptation was true to her book.

[Sweetp120]

its hard to say as I have seen many books turned to movies but I honestly can think of two off that top of my head the most recent being the movie The Shack I can't remember who wrote it but Tim McGraw actually did a wonderful job adapting it into a movie and then there was the book Freak The mighty which when they adapted it into a movie they just called it The Mighty I enjoyed that one a lot but I could never find myself to read the second book about Max.

[lildallface]

I've been on a kick lately, reading all the books that have become movies for research purposes. Hopefully so one day I can write a book that becomes a movie myself. Fear and Loathing, Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey, Sex and the City. I think all of these books were great and the movies definitely did them justice.

[sush_destiny]

I loved all the Harry Potter movies and are a very good example of books turned into successful movies.

[paigegreenpurba]

In my opinion the 2005 adaptation (but none of the other adaptations) of Jane Eyre was a phenomenal interpretation of the book. The best I've found so far.

[NicholsC97]

The first Harry Potter movie comes to mind.