This week's Weekly Geeks asks:
With the release of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince this past week, I thought it would be good to turn once again to movie adaptations. In March, with the release of Watchmen (using that as a jumping off point for discussion), I brought up the subject of worst movie adaptations. This time, I'd like to bring up best movie adaptations (not saying if the recent Harry Potter movie is or isn't faithful to the book since I'll be honest I haven't read the book, but using the subject as a jumping off point for discussion).
So what are some of your favorite movie adaptations of books? Include trailers or scenes from Youtube if you'd like.
More oft' than not, I think movies don't live up to the books. Books leave so much to the imagination, whereas in movies, nothing is left to the imagination, which makes it still less enjoyable, as far as I'm concerned. For example, I think the hippogriff in the third Harry Potter movie (The Prisoner of Azkaban) looked more like a friendly dragon, than the deadly creature the book described.
If I had to choose my favorite movie adaptation, it would be Erich Segal's Love Story. The movie starts off exactly as the book does:
What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach, the Beatles, and me.
While I can't find a trailer for it on youtube, the main song on the soundtrack is equally touching and beautiful.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7676EC06oc]
This is probably the only book that has almost reduced me to tears, and the movie did live up to its expectations.
Couple of others worth mentioning are Schindler's List:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAH3RTRlCHY]
And, Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. I did think the book was better here, though.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVnngDWb9WE]
So, do you have any favorite adaptations? Do you find that you normally prefer books as well?