I feel like as a book lover, I should be able to say, without reservation, that the book is always better than the movie.
But I have a confession to make.
(Please lean forward close to the screen and read this next line in a whispery, confessional voice.)
I liked a movie better than I liked the book.
Actually, I’ve done it twice.
In general this is not the case because of this:
But there have been two cases in which I liked the movie better than the book.
Case #1: The Princess Bride
Loved it when I was young, love it just as much today. I can not wait until my kids are old enough to really get it.
Case #2: Stardust
Love the witches, the snarky dead princes, the pirates, all of it.
I adore both of these movies. They tell just the sort of stories I love: quirky characters, fun adventure, magic, someone who seems like he’s a bad guy, but is really a good guy…In fact, they’re the exact sort of stories I want to write.
Yet I’ve tried to read both of these books, and failed to get through either of them.
Which is weird, I know.
I don’t know why, but in these two instances I adored the movies, and wasn’t interested in the books.
It can’t just be because I saw the movie first. Because when that happens, I usually still like the book more.
For instance,
- I saw the movie The Book Thief and loved it. Read the book and loved it even more.
- I saw the movie Gone With the Wind and loved it. Read the book and loved it so much more.
So I don’t know what’s different here.
All I know is that if I’m honest, I can’t always say that the book is better than the movie.
How about you? Have you ever liked a movie more than its book?
Have you read and watched The Princess Bride or Stardust? Do you agree with me that the movies are better, or am I crazy?
I admit I have not seen the movie Warm Bodies but everyone says it’s good but I tried the book thinking it had to be good, I couldn’t finish it, it was so boring! I rarely not finish a book to review it but for this book I did.
Don’t think it’s an Oscars worthy film. Warm Bodies is a popcorn Sunday afternoon romance chick flick with a humorous take on the zombies. As she starts to befriend the zombie that turns into a good guy (after he casually murders and eats the brain of her fianceé), they start to fall in love. The zombie guy must now ponder between protecting the girl from a horde of zombies that want to eat her or risk accompanying her to a militarized human compound and risk being killed for good.
If you enjoy that film, I highly suggest you should try to read a highly underrated book titled “Hollow Eyes” from AJ Francis. It’s on Kindle Unlimited. The plot of that book is really good.
First, I love The Princess Bride movie, but have never tried to read the book.
Second, I can’t think of any book where I liked the movie better. I have plenty where I liked the movie as well or not liked the movie at all.
Now I’m going to have to read The Princess Bride to see if I like it 😉
I enjoyed The Hunt for Red October movie much more than the book. They are different only in that the book has a lot of technical stuff that is probably interesting to some people but didn’t do anything for the plot for me. I ended up skipping most of the technical stuff just to get through the book. As for the Princess Bride, I like the movie but never read the book. Never saw the other movie nor did I read the book. The movie that came closest to the book was the mini-series The Stand based on the Stephen King novel. The thing I miss in movies is hearing the characters’ thoughts.
oh, yes! I didn’t even think of books that get too technical. I have an engineering degree and I get bored with too many specs in a book!
Homeward Bound was a great movie. So when I saw it was based on the book the Incredible Journey I went straight to the library and checked it out. It became the most boring book ever. I’ve tried several times to read it over the years but it’s so long and boring to me. Most times I like the books over the movies but there always an exemption or two to the rules. The Outsiders is one of my favorite books that I can’t stand watching it’s movie. Then there some movies that I wish were based off books like Jupiter Ascending.
I too usually like the book more than the movie. Case in point: Anything written by Frank Herbert. Several tv and movies tried to make a Dune movie/mini-series and it was laughable at best. I believe it is because he puts so much detail into the storylines that it is not possible to make a movie because too much is left out.
Also, I think that good books allow us to make our own movie in our head and our imagination fills in the portion of the iceberg under the water (using your pic above)
I have NEVER read the Dune books. I feel like that’s a problem. But I did see some movie or something once, and I’ll admit it turned me off to the story! I’ll need to go back and actually read the books!
If you haven’t read the Dune series you should. The movie with Kyle Mclaughlin is nothing like the book. The mood of the series had not been captured by film.
I’m in complete agreement with you on The Princess Bride, I love the movie, made from a mediocre book. Could it be that you relate to the directors interpretation? Or the screenwriter? As a retired cameraman from the film industry, I can tell you that the DP (director of photography) has a huge impact for the look and feel of the set, affecting the emotional and visual perception of the viewer (dark/light, the setting and it’s design) Once the DP and the director are happy with the look, the director ‘directs’ the actors and their actions to be compatible with his vision. While there are constant revisions to a script during shooting ( that’s a great story in itself sometimes 😄) it is the screenplay that ultimately controls a book Making it on the big screen. One person or another though, read the book and saw it in a certain way and decided that it would be a great film.( and had the $$/influence to make it happen) It is why some people follow certain directors and why often that director has the same DP on most of his/her films. Basically, when you really like a film, you like the interpretation of the story as it was brought to life. It’s not that the book wasn’t as good, but that the combined talents of key artists produced a visualization of the book that was able to touch and please you. It is a tremendous example of teamwork and shared vision to make a film, let alone one based on a book where peramaters are already set. Didn’t mean to go on so long but it is a thought as to your question. Thanks and have a good one! 🦋
This is a fascinating comment, Dianna, because my husband and I often comment that we like the colors of a movie. 🙂 Your way of talking about it is so much more sophisticated! Thank you!
At 60, and a bit of a cinephile, there are movies that made better books (I.e ANY Harry Potter) and books tat made better movies (The Horse Whisperer, Bridges of Madison County).
However, at the cost of launching movies, producers might just buy the rights to get the characters and find a screenwriter to use those characters in a completely different setting (Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Sherlock Holmes….and so on)
And then, who has deemed it proper to “remake” films? Ok, there are exceptions with The Affair/An Affar to Remember, and that strange one with Annette Benning and Warren Beaty, and The Shop Around the Corner, and of course, King Kong and any B monster film in the history of film making)
And why, please chime in, must we make cartoons like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast into live action? Just how lazy are Disney Films getting anyway
Star Wars started out as a screenplay and was later written in book format. As for the rest of your comments I agree completely. Disney is way too lazy. They haven’t had a fresh idea in years, maybe decades.
I have to agree with both of those, though I enjoyed Stardust in book form as well.
I’ll submit a third: Chocolat. I love the movie but REALLY don’t like the book.
I love The Princess Bride, both as a book AND as a movie. I’ve never heard of Stardust, but I’ll put it my movies-to-watch list. I don’t see movies in theaters anymore, so I generally forget what looked interesting by the time it’s available.
For purposes of this discussion, do the 90 minutes episodes of BBC mysteries count as movies? If so, I have to say that I like the Inspector Morse and Endeavor series – and LOVE Inspector Lewis – but really dislike the Inspector Morse books all three are based on. Now, Inspector Lynley is a perfectly acceptable mystery show but the books, oh, the books! Elizabeth George’s writing fascinates me, especially the first book. The situations, however, become more stomach-turning with each book. I’ve had to stop reading them.
If you’ll pardon the example, I think it’s like spinach. Some people like both spinach salad and spinach in cooked things. Some only like one or the other.
I love the spinach analogy!
My movie over book pick is The Shining. I live the book and still find it scary but the movie was much more intense. I think the fantastic visuals of Stanley Kubrick really fleshed out out.
When I was very young I read all the Tolkien books so through the years I watched every movie, anime, and cartoon none ever reached what I saw in my mind when I read the books.
Then when they came out with the new ones made in New Zealand, I walked out of the theater and said to my husband that’s exactly what I saw in my mind.
Most times I have found the movies never give the same or better portrayal than books.
I agree that the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of matching what was in my head!
I have seen movies that have lead me to read the books after. I found that with the Mortal Instruments books. I felt there was stuff missing in the movie and I was right. I started from the beginning and read all the books within 2 weeks. I found the same with the Twilight Saga books as well. There is always stuff in the books that don’t translate to the big screen. They have to leave out a lot in order to tell the story in a shorter amount of time . Look what they had to do with the last Harry Potter book. They had to split it into 2 movies because they would not have been able to tell the story in 1 movie because it wouldn’t have worked. Yes, sometimes a book might start out boring but I find that if you sometimes (not always) keep going it will get interesting. I have never not finished a book even if it was boring. I just like to read. I may never pick that book up again but there are plenty that I have picked up to re-read because they were that good.
I totally agree with you about “The Princess Bride” the movie was better by far. I personally preferred the book to the movie for “Stardust”. I just felt like so much was left out. This is the problem with most movies. They can’t put everything in. I understand why, but it’s not the same.
I enjoyed the movie Practical Magic but barely got through the book!
Hi I totally agree both films are amazing I have also read stardust and didn’t like the ending to the book any were near as much as I loved the film. I have never read princess bride but may have to give it a try xxx
I absolutely love the movie ‘The Lucky One’ based on the book by Nicholas Sparks. The book however is a different story. I did see the movie first but given his popularity I assumed I would adore the book even more. I HATED it, forced myself to finish it, could not wait for it to end, left me with no desire whatsoever to read one of his books ever again! I mean ever, ever!!! Am I the only one not a fan of his books??? Also, I have never been able to finish the movie ‘The Notebook’ but did enjoy ‘Dear John’.
I don’t like Nicolas Sparks either. I find him to be manipulative.
Glad it isn’the just me! ☺
Lord of the Rings – loved the book, but LOVE LOVE LOVE what Peter Jackson did with the movies.
With you on Princess Bride – the movie is one of my favorites too & have tried to read the book – failed every time.
Haven’t read Stardust, so can’t comment on the book, but again – one of my favorite Movies 🙂
you have such excellent taste! 🙂
I didn’t get the chance to finish Mockinjay (watched the flick in a bus and reached my destination before the ending) and liked how they improved the annoying things from the book. I am surprised that they were able to prolong a rather short book into two movies without endless filler Hobbit style but not only were they faithful to the book, they removed the stuff that were annoying.
In the book, Katnis suffers a newvous breakdown and pretty much spends 30% of the book as a psychiatric ward patient meandering around District 13 acting all crazy, mumbling to herself and hiding in closets so that she could cry herself to sleep. In the film, while she acts somewhat disruptive that Peeta wasn’t rescued with her, she seems mostly like herself allowing the plot to move forward. One thing I dislike about the movie was how they download Finnick’s wedding. It’s a big celebration in the book whereas it’s just a fleeting moment in the film. Considering the book isn’t very long and fillers are annoying to watch, they could have added 3 more minutes of film time without major trouble.
A second film that is “menially” better than the book is the 5th Harry Potter film. The actress that performs Dolores Umbridge is just marvelous (would would have thought the same actress that was so friendly in Sense & Sensibility could harbor so much malice!) and they removed the tireless filler scenes of Harry driving Snape insane because he is miserably bad at Occlumancy magic. The movie briefly mentioned his struggle but doesn’t drag 80 pages of it. However, not even Dolores could make me like that film all that much. The 5th book and film are my least favorite of the 7(8) book/flicks.
Speaking of Sense & Sensibility, while I love the book, the movie has Alan Rickman. Nuff said.
A last book where I like the film more than the book would be Eragon. I like how the protagonist and Saffine develop a relationship in the film. The book sort of falls flat and instead explores more on the minor filler characters. I also liked Jeremy Iron’s performance in the film. He was a good mentor.
Alright. I confess that I love the BBC mini series of Pride and Prejudice more than the book by Jane Austen. Don’t get me wrong. I have read many of Austen’s books and am very fond of them. There is just something about the series that really brought it to life. Seeing the repartee between Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle was even better than reading it. The music was rather nice too. However, that said the mini series and book are considerably better than any of the other movies that were later made.
I applaud your brave confession! As an Austen lover, I have to agree that the BBC version of P&P is outstanding. It’s my go-to comfort flick.
So true. Honesty and everything regdonizec.
Not a movie, but a TV show– Legend of the Seeker. Way cheesier and with less depth than the Sword of Truth books, but also way more enjoyable. I had to quit the books around the fourth or fifth because I was tired of it, but I’m still sad it’s cheesier adaption was canceled.
For me it’s Game of Thrones. I think I got bogged down in the details in the book, and (at least in the first book) I think they managed to put every single word in the tv version. The screen version was just more alive, to me.
I agree with you on The Princess Bride. I could barely get through the book but love the movie. I read Fifty Shades of Grey as the fan fiction, Master of the Universe, and didn’t think much of it. I recently saw the movie (out of curiosity and because a friend wanted to see it) and thought it was much better than I expected.
I think that how well a movie matches my vision of the story defines when I enjoy the movie more. This is true of both the Princess Bride and Stardust.
If the movie doesn’t meet my expectations I will remember the book as being superior, and example of this is 2001 a Space Odyssey.
I don’t compare the the book and movie when they movie changes the story line significantly, the book and movie will stand on their own merits. Unfortunately when the movie is radically different it rarely captures the books magic, for example the first movie version of Dune where it mashed together elements of the first two book resulted in a nonsensical story line that was very unsatisfactory.
I have seen the movie The Princess Bride and I love it. Never tire of seeing it. I have not read the book so cannot compare. I did Read Stardust before I ever knew it was A movie. I loved the book, but I have to admit I love the movie even more. It was so much fun seeing all the characters. Like you said, the snarky dead princes were hilarious. Seeing the characters in the movie brought so much life to them that I did not get when reading the book.
I completely agree with you on the Princess Bride. I’ve actually made it through the book, but it was a slog fest to do so and I certainly haven’t re-read it whereas, I’ve re-watched The Princess Bride innumerable times.
I thought that Children of Men as a movie worked better than it did as a book. Not that I disliked the book; I just thought that the movie synthesized the books themes in a way that wasn’t so clear cut in the book.
Overall though, I do think books are better than movies or tv shows that are based on them.
I’ve both read and watched The Princess Bride, and loved both in very different ways. But, as probably THE favorite movie of my childhood, and one of the favorites of my adulthood, I have definitely watched the movie way more times than read the book.
I’ll be dodging tomatoes with this movie-better-than-the-book confession, but I prefer the Harry Potter movies. Yikes! I know! I think it maybe because I saw the movies first. But, I went back and read book one about four movies in and decided I’d stick with the movies.
To be honest, I’ve never read the books of Princess Bride or Stardust. I hadn’t even heard that there were books of them until now. I do quite enjoy the movies though!
But there have been a few instances where I enjoyed the movie more than the book. One I can think of off the top of my head is the Hobbit. The book put me to sleep — many times — and while I haven’t finished part three, I enjoyed the movies far more than the book.
The Princess Bride is still one of my all-time favorite movies, so I thought the book would be even more fun, but I couldn’t finish it. I was annoyed by the author’s frequent rabbit trails about his personal life interrupting the story. I also loved watching The Indian in The Cupboard. I’d never heard of the book before that, & I saw an interview with the lead actor talking about changes being made to the story before he’d take the part. That made me curious. It became the only book I ever threw across the room. I know lots of people love the book, but I grew up with Native Americans and their culture, so I can see how racist it is. Great story, but Native Americans don’t speak like Little Bear in the book. They speak perfect English, & use full sentences. I don’t begrudge people who like the book, though. But the movie was still way better.
I totally agree! I saw both those movies first. Thought I would love the books, but nerp. Movies are way better. Same goes for Bridget Jones’ Diary.