Monday, June 20, 2011

Musing Mondays: Movies from Books?


UK poster for 2011 Jane Eyre movie

I'm participating today in Musing Mondays, hosted by Should Be Reading!

The question:

Do you like movies made from books? Which ones do you think have been done well — kept mostly to the plot of the book, etc?

Well, I never like the movie as much as I did the book. As you know if you love to read, you have a mental image in your mind of what's going on in the book--what a certain character looks like, etc. My vision of what the book "looks like" rarely matches the movie.

Also, having to squeeze a story into two hours of film time means much of the book gets omitted. Which is why I often enjoy the BBC mini-series of books more than movies made from them.

What really bothers me is if the movie takes major liberties with the plot, or even changes the author's philosophy or views. For example, although I enjoy seeing the Narnia books brought to life, C.S. Lewis's Christian worldview seems diluted or put on the back burner to me.

I thought the recent Jane Eyre movie did a very good job of condensing the book into a film while still being as true to the book as possible. Mia Wasikowska is my favorite movie Jane yet. As I've said before, she managed to be plain while still radiating a certain beauty.

Gone With the Wind was probably one of the best movies made from a book. It did an amazing job of capturing the book on film...and I did read the book before seeing the movie.

Below are some pictures from movies made from books. And if you're interested, you can go here for a list of the Top 100 Movies Based from Books.









I'm not a Harry Potter of Twilight fan, but it seems to me most fans are happy with the way the books translated to film.

How about you? Do you have a favorite movie made from a book?

Go here to participate in Musing Mondays!

5 comments:

Arlee Bird said...

I enjoyed the Top 100 list. I was very happy to see one of my choices --No Country for Old Men--on the list. I thought the Coen Brothers did an exceptional job bringing this film to the screen. I think Deliverance should have been included, especially since author James Dickey also wrote the screenplay and reading the book was like watching the movie over again.

I was thrilled to see the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice on the list since it is my favorite as well. The most recent version was a huge disappointment for me and the TV versions were most true to the storyline of the book, but the 1940 version captured the true comedic spirit of the book--I was laughing at many things in the book and thought maybe it was just me and then I saw that movie version and was confirmed the P & P is a funny book.


Lee
Tossing It Out--Five of my Favorite Novels

Anonymous said...

I always get really excited when a favorite film is being made into a movie - and almost always end up disappointed. LOL There are a few book-to-film adaptations that are fantastic. The first few Harry Potter movies did a good job, but the longer and more intricate the plots got, the more they had to cut. I love the Colin Firth adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, though technically it's a mini-series, and not a movie.

Ann said...

I've told myself I can't watch Jane Eyre until having read the book, although I have watched P&P without making it through the pages.

http://thebookgatherer.blogspot.com/2011/06/musing-mondays_20.html

Beth said...

I really enjoyed Cranford. I have read Cranford, but haven't read the other two book they used to make the film.

The film, Ben-Hur, with Charlton Heston, can make me rant for a while. The book was an incredible read, but I felt they missed the point in the film.

I haven't seen the newest version of Emma, but will keep my eye out for it.

Alice said...

Probably my favorite is the 1995 movie version of Little Women with Winona Ryder as Jo. I also particularly love the Merchant-Ivory film adaptations of books--A Room with a View, Howard's End, Remains of the Day, Wings of the Dove, etc.

I find if I'm too attached to the book, I'll just skip the movie. But if I enjoyed the book and go into the theater thinking of the film as a separate entity, then I'm usually OK.

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