Top Ten Tuesday - Movie Adaptations
Hi allYes, it's another meme, but I quite like lists, so... here we are.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.
This week's prompt is: Top Ten Book to Movie adaptations
I'm trying to only choose works in which I've read the book AND seen the movie, and the adaptation is good, and both the book and movie are decent.
(This eliminates things like The Great Mouse Detective, which is a great movie based on a boring book, or many of my favorite Bond movies, in which the book is great, the film is great, but the two have nothing to do with each other.)
In No Particular Order, my picks are:
1: Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003)
Is this one, or three? Whichever. While plenty was cut, and plenty was changed, this still stands as a fantastic adaptation.
2: Sherlock Holmes (Granada TV Series)
Gorgeous, spectacular adaptations of Doyle's stories. No other version of Holmes on film makes me as happy, and most of why I love it is the fidelity to the original text.
3: True Grit (2010)
See my full post on the subject
4: Casino Royale (2006)
Manages to keep almost the entire book, while updating telegrams to text messages, etc. One of my very favorite Bond books and movies, and I've read and seen them all.
5: The Last Unicorn (1982)
Okay, I know this is a dated animated movie with really interesting music choices, but it is a really good adaptation of the book.
6: Watchmen (2009)
In the end I'm not sure how much I like this movie, but it is as good an adaptation of the graphic novel as I can imagine.
7: Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
I love Branagh's Much Ado. Oh, how I love it :) It's just so much fun.
8: Hogfather (2007 Miniseries)
Nice adaptation of the Prachett novel. I haven't gotten a chance to see The Color of Magic yet, but I'm looking forward to it. (This is on Netflix Streaming, people. Take advantage.)
9: Coraline (2008)
Different here and there from the book, but I enjoyed both thoroughly.
10: Hmmm.... Maybe the Harry Potter movies
Because I know that in some circles this makes me a bad person, but I like the movies more than the books, because of where they cut stuff out.
I know it's slightly mean, but here's a couple of WORST adaptations of decent books:
Stardust (2007)
Yuck. What a terrible, annoying movie. It completely butchered the book, which I really like. I hated this film.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (DVD, 2008)
Apparently many problems are due to behind-the-scenes drama, but the end result is that you SHOULD NOT see this movie.
I really liked Coraline too. And I agree with your criteria for your list. I'm off to read your True Grit Post. Kaye—the road goes ever ever on
ReplyDeleteI think I simply love Kenneth Branagh! His portrayal of Iago in Othello never fails to amuse me :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Last Unicorn is another adaptation that I completely forgot about when creating my list, but it's definitely worth mentioning!
I've got Watchmen too and loved both the graphic novel and movie. I watched the movie again after reading the book and it was like seeing the book on screen!
ReplyDelete