Movie gripe

**blitzen** · 07-24-2008, 01:40 AM

Last week, I read The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I had been wanting to read it for awhile so I was glad I was able to sit and plow through it in two evenings. I thought it was a lovely story. So I figured I just had to see the movie.

Meh. What a disappointment!

**suebeehoney** · 07-24-2008, 07:08 AM

I HATE when movies are made from books and change the story.

A good example is Under the Tuscan Sun. Totally different story than was in the book. Good movie, I still rank it as one of my faves, but I read the book after I watched the movie and thought they took an awful lot of 'poetic license' to make the movie more entertaining, when the book had a great story to begin with.

I've found most of Stephen Kings' books that are made into movies turn out ok - they stick pretty close to the story, with minor details cut out for the sake of time. The Shining, It, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, The Mist - all stuck pretty close to the story in the book.

Just watched The Mist recently with DS16 - holy crap! Very intense movie. Kept us right on the edge of our seats the whole time.

**kaykwilts** · 07-24-2008, 07:45 AM

I hate it when they do that.

**Darlene** · 07-24-2008, 07:50 AM

Books are almost always better than the movie. Enjoyed Jurassic Park the book but what a snooze fest the movie was for me. It's almost always like that.
I think books engage you more and really make you create such a better imaginative picture.

**blitzen** · 07-24-2008, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by Darlene

I think books engage you more and really make you create such a better imaginative picture.

Definitely!

It kills me that they can take a book, which already has a pretty compelling story and they add a bunch of junk to make it Hollywood.

The only movie that I can think of right now where I really liked the movie vs the book was Like Water for Chocolate. I thought the movie was great.

**nuisance26** · 07-24-2008, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by Darlene

Books are almost always better than the movie.

~I know of a couple of exceptions to this, at least for me, are Lord of the Rings, movies made from a person's autobiography and anything by Dickens and R.L. Stevenson(who I think were great for story value and concept but not so much with the imaginative writing part). I though The Notebook was a snoozefest too, btw.~

**Mom23boys** · 07-24-2008, 08:54 AM

I have never read The Notebook, but I watched the movie at the urging of a friend and I really enjoyed it. I guess it is a good thing I never read it or I would have disappointed. I didn't have anything to compare it against.

I agree, Darlene. Books do engage you more through the use of vivid imagery. They tend to draw you in so you will want to know more.

**shortstack** · 07-24-2008, 09:02 AM

I cried all the way through the book The Notebook. It was a really great book.
The movie was ok but of course not as good as the book.

Andrea

**pip** · 07-24-2008, 09:11 AM

I'm usually disappointed to watch a movie after I've read the book. Probably because I've already imagined how everybody looks, etc, and the movie then never lives up to my expectations.
I've thought about watching the movie first and then reading the book, but I read more than watch movies, so I probably wouldn't do that, either.

**Momto2Boyz** · 07-24-2008, 09:58 AM

I almost never watch movies after I've read the book. I read Misery (Stephen King) before they made the movie, then I watched the movie and was dissapointed...decent movie, but not nearly as good as the book.

People always think I'm nuts because I have never seen movies like Jurassic Park and Silence of the Lambs...but I read the book and I know the movies won't be as good!

**Katybird** · 07-24-2008, 10:43 AM

I always read the book first and then if the book is great I watch the movie. I once saw a great quote that said "Don't judge a book by the movie" . I thought that was so true. I find sometimes I enjoy the movie more because I have read the book. The Di Vinci Code is a great example of that, I read the book and then much later saw the movie and I think I enjoyed the movie because I understood some of the inuendo that was in the book and not the movie.

**suebeehoney** · 07-24-2008, 12:47 PM

The only movie that I can think of right now where I really liked the movie vs the book was Like Water for Chocolate. I thought the movie was great.

Woohoo! I LOVE that movie. It has to be one of my all time favorites (that and The Piano). Come to think of it, The Piano followed the book almost exactly. What a couple of great romances! I loved the fact that Like Water for Chocolate involved food as well. I love historical food studies.

I rented Like Water for Chocolate once, just on a whim - what a stroke of luck! Fantastic movie, even if they didn't do so great with the translation on the subtitles or the voiceover into English. Their language was SO much more expressive, and they left words out in the translation.

**KKCondrey** · 07-25-2008, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by singersullivan

I cried all the way through the book The Notebook. It was a really great book.
The movie was ok but of course not as good as the book.

Andrea

I cried with the book too. The movie was okey for me, but of the Nicholas Sparks movies, I like "A Walk To Remember" the best. Cried at both the book and the movie.....lol