Movies that were better than their books

[SheldrakeWriter]

LOTR must surely qualify? The Hobbit, not so much...

-- January 26th, 2014, 11:09 pm --

LOTR must surely qualify? The Hobbit, not so much...

[Kia]

The Princess Diaries book was awful compared to the movie! I love the movie, hate the book. It's not a movie, but the Wicked musical is amazing! I could not get into the book. There was way too many innuendos for me. That's all I can think of. Usually I am all about the book rather than the movie, like I am Number Four.

I have to agree with you about Wicked. It is by far my favourite muscal, and though I've read several of the books in the series I did have a hard one getting into them. Though this is one of those cases where what they created was so different from the original book that I have to think of them as two completely different things. Another good example of this was Ella Enchanted, though in that case I love the book much more.
One example I can think of where the movie is better though is the Lord of the Rings series. While I did enjoy the books I found the explanations of common things and long winded speeches tiring. Plus I found that all the exciting parts were kinda skimmed over. I thought the movies did a really good job of making the story as exciting as it should have been in the books in the first place.

[Mike_Lang]

One that immediately comes to mind is the film version of John Grisham's The Firm. The plot was changed somewhat in the film and I thought it made for a much tighter, better told story than the book.

Someone referenced To Kill A Mockingbird earlier, in my opinion that is one of the few cases of the movie and the book being equally excellent.

[sabrinanicole2010]

"Where the heart is" Loved the movie only really liked the book!

[davidh219]

It's definitely not the norm, but there have been a few.

The Prestige
Blade Runner
Stand By Me
Adaptation (kind of unfair since the book was non-fiction)
Interview with a Vampire
Gone Girl
A Clockwork Orange
The Princess Bride

[Greyskies2446]

I feel like Gone Girl was way better than its literary adaption. Though they were both pretty boring.

[Novelbound]

One movie that always springs to mind is The Notebook. I thought the film was far superior to the book, but I'm not a Nicholas Sparks fan either. I just found it more emotional than the book. Plus, Ryan Gosling.

[crazilydramatic]

Not a movie, but The 100's TV series adaption is better than the book series for sure, if you ask me. It's not often I think the adaption is better than the original source material.

[MrsCatInTheHat]

"To Kill A Mockingbird" was a great book! But I have to say that I really liked the movie more.

The movie really was done well. I'm hard pressed to say which I thought was better. I think I understood the book more when I read it a second time, after having seen the movie.

[Silvermoon]

Although this is rare, I thought the movie Holes was better than the book.

[Dashkova]

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the one with Helena Bonham Carter and Robert de Niro. I always liked that film so I figured I would like the book, I just read the book and actually wasn't too impressed. I enjoy the movie more.

[angiebrock]

I was thinking about this same topic and am glad to see it had already been posted. I hadn't personally viewed a movie that was better than the book I read. I'm happy to get these ideas from others!

[ramydul11]

The Notebook. I feel like the movie was more emotional and meaningful than the book. Plus the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams was incredible.

[arunadawn]

The color Purple. I really enjoyed the book but it was dark compared to the movie.

[Oshin]

'Confessions of a shopaholic' is an amazing movie! The book, however, is not so great.