I think most of us can agree that nine times out of ten, books are much better than the movies that are based on them. There is the odd exception once in awhile that proves that rule, however.

I'm curious which exceptions you've all noted.

The ones that stick in my mind are:

How to Make an American Quilt. Loved the movie, but thought the book was almost impossible to get through.

The Spiderwick Chronicles. The five books are decent, and worth reading with your children, but the movie was able to take the fantasy elements to a new level.

Any more to add?

The Black Stallion film is at least equal to the book, probably better (though I loved the book).

The first Willy Wonka movie was better than the book, I thought, and Mary Poppins is a better movie than book. I loved both movies and found both books eminently forgettable.

The Princess Bride is a much better movie than book. The book has this self-indulgent framing story that made me want to scream.

Interesting that all of my examples are fantasy-ish.

I almost like the Last Unicorn cartoon as much as Beagle's book.

The Conan the Barbarian movie is better than the books.

The recent Tristan + Isolde movie is much better than Gottfried von Strassburg's epic.

To stretch the parameters of the question, the original Das Nibelungenlied is better than Wagner's cycle of operas.

-Andy

Pretty much every movie based on a Philip K. Dick novel. I can't stand his writing style but his subject matter is almost always interesting and thought provoking. There are a lot of visual elements as well that come across nicely in the films.

Thank You for Smoking. The book (by Christopher Buckley) was sketched a bit too thinly. I remember thinking it felt like a movie masquerading as a book when I read it. The movie is very true to the book but is a million times more engaging.

Stardust. I thought the book average in just about every way and never got what the fuss was about, but movie really made the world live and feel like a place of wonder.

I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that pop into my head immediately.

:)

The Shawshank Redemption. The movie was great, the original story was OK I guess.

On the subject of King... I liked the film The Running Man better than the story too. :) Which is a bit of an odd statement given that the movie was so horribly campy but that was all part of the fun of it.

Personally I enjoyed The Princess Bride book. I'll give you that the film was better but hey.

I like the Conan books personally. Sure they have some problems here and there but still I enjoy them. The movie is better than its novelization:) and Schawzenheger is pretty good but the plot is kinda thin and slapdash in the film.

The Last Unicorn is a bit of apples and oranges for me. I love the book but the film is so visually neat that it really works well for me. Not exactly sure I'd quite call it a 'cartoon' though given all of the connotations. They really used mixed arts a bit with the film to produce it and I'd give it 'animated feature' instead of cartoon.


Pretty much every movie based on a Philip K. Dick novel. I can't stand his writing style but his subject matter is almost always interesting and thought provoking. There are a lot of visual elements as well that come across nicely in the films.

I have The Neverending Story that is supposed to be quite different from the movie. I haven't read it yet, though.

I thought both the book and movie for Neil Gaiman's Stardust were great.

The book of I Am Legend was a million times superior to the movie.

Has anyone ever read The Wizard of Oz? I would be hard to top the movie.

Quote: sleeper54
The story is actually quite different as I remember. But 'just as good' I guess as the movie. But I am not the biggest fan of the movie so . . ..


I've only read excerpts and didn't care for those excerpts at all. But I was a kid. And weird. And still am. I have no excuses!

Julie