The time I spend here this week, I am reflecting on a few books made into movies and how they measure up. Was the book better? Was the movie better? Did the movie do justice to the book or perhaps the movie made the book even better!
First up, The movie that is better than the book!
This rarely occurs in my opinion, but it does happen. The first book up is
“JAWS” by Peter Benchley. Years ago I was a big Peter Benchley fan and do still enjoy re-reading a few of his books but the famous “JAWS” is not one of them.
The book “JAWS” was more about the mob and political corruption and affairs than it was about the shark. And the characters were NOT likable in the book, but you sure liked and rooted for them in the movie (especially when you heard that theme music kick in!). The book characters were always drunk, plotting, lying, cheating and vulgar. The movie changed the characters likable and believable while we shuttered in terror over the evil swimming off shore. The movie tops the book in hundreds of ways and for those reasons it makes my list of “The movie that is better than the book”.
The second book in this category is “The Prisoner of Azkaban” by JK
Rowling. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this one, but I think this movie tops the book. That’s hard for me to say, because I am a HUGE JK Rowling fan and continue to re-read her HP books year after year, they never get old to me. I love the scenes of the Midnight Bus, the shrunken talking head and the blown up aunt. Those scenes in the movie are great and either don’t exist in the book or aren’t as entertaining to me personally in the book as they are on the big screen.
And finally, both the Colin Firth and Kiera Knightly movie versions of “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen.
I adore these depictions of the classic novel. They bring the characters to life more vividly than the book does- at least for me.
And I don't just mean the main characters, I love the siblings and parents in the Kiera Knightly version. They come across as a real believable family. They couldn't have picked a better cast. And the music in the Kiera Knightly version just lovely, it adds even more to the story in my opinion. The scenery in both are breathtaking and the acting superb.
So those are my ‘The movie is better than the book’ picks. What are some of your picks?
1 comment:
I totally agree about Jaws! I read a lot of Peter Benchley books when I was younger. Jaws the film is most definitely better than Jaws the novel. By the way, the reason that Jaws the movie is so freaking great (I am obsessed with that film!) is that "Bruce" the shark was broken during most of the filming. So Spielberg had to re-work the film without his biggest prop. He figured out that just the threat of the shark was actually scarier than the shark itself. (Especially since Bruce looked pretty corny up close). Jaws, 30th anniversary edition, has fantastic behind the scenes footage about the making of the film.
http://www.amazon.com/Jaws-30th-Anniversary-Roy-Scheider/dp/B0008KLVG4/ref=pd_sim_b_5
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