Movies vs. books
 

This'll be a blank thread.

Has anyone seen a movie and read the book it was based on and thought the movie was better?

I fall into an excitement/dread cycle when I find out a book I liked is being made into a movie. I usually find the book to be far more interesting and entertaining.

Examples:
Every Tom Clancy novel that was made into a movie
Most of the Stephen King novels that were filmed
The Lord of the Rings
Dune

Consequently, there are a few movies I've seen that I thought were just OK, read the book it was based on, and found an interesting author who's other work was good too.

Examples:
Flight of the Intruder
The Keep
Starship Troopers
(with all of these there is so much difference between the movies and books that it's hard to tell what influence the book had on the script)

Whaddaya t'ink?

Solaris
Catch-22
Slaughterhouse 5
War & Peace

Just a few examples, very random ones albeit, but they all stick out as ones that could have been truly great movies in the hands of a good directer (except w&p maybe - way too long).
The reverse is sometimes true. All of Kubrick's book adaptations were better than the books - except Lolita, but that was one of the best books written in the 20th century.
Also, The Godfather I and II are both much better than the book. The book is just a big slab of violence and flat characters, it's pretty amazing what was done with it.

Having read Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange long after seeing the movie, I liked the book slightly better. Both were good though.
Same with The Shining, saw the movie first, liked the book just a little bit better.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Dune for sure!

Forrest Gump.

When I first saw this, I thought you were saying that the movies were better than the book and I was going to bitchslap you. Instead, I will commend you for the good examples.

I think it is almost impossible to make a movie better than the book that it is based on. The book is able to put in more details and character development than the movie ever will. Movies are good for providing great imagery, but then again, I've always been able to come up with images in my head to go along with what I'm reading.

That said, there are still some great movies. Take the battle scenes from the Matrix or Saving Private Ryan, or the great cinematography in Fight Club. The movies are definitely good, and are able to portray things that the books might not be able to. However, the books are generally still better, because they have more to them.

I've talked about this in other threads, but I actually think I enjoyed Fight Club the movie better than Fight Club the book. I am sure that has something to do with me watching the movie first.

Sadly, there just isn't enough time in an hour and a half (or even 4 hours in Dune's case) to make a movie as detailed and rich as a book.

tom clancy's books are great, but the movies are just wrong imo

The Bourne Identity - The movie was better than the book in most aspects
Starship Troopers - they got the main theme from the book but they totally cut out the skinnies from the first chapter of the book

Although for most movies I hate seeing they are based on a book because you know that the movie will be worse than the book.

some books just don't translate well to film some do. A great example of a book that works well as a movie is Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck was actuially expiramenting with forme and wanted to make his book something more like a play with stage directions but in narrative forme. most books just aren't set up that way.

I think books will always provide more entertainment then a movie based on it. The book will provide the reader more stimulation as the reader must use their own mind to create the imagry.

books are always better in my experience

but books take much more time to read

when you go watch a movie you have the whole story in approx 100min when reading a book it takes me atleast 5hrs to read semi normal book

I look forward to seeing it, then. I'm a big Robert Ludlum fan, and prior efforts to bring his books to the big screen failed miserably.