Hello, lovelies! Today, I want to tell you all about my opinions on a rather controversial topic : Book-to-Movie Adaptations.
I’m going to split this post in two categories, the first one will be about movies/tv shows I enjoyed as much or even more more than the books (the horror!) and the second category will be about movies that I dislike/hate/despise and any other suitable word to express the pain of seeing an adaptation that doesn’t do your baby book justice.
Also, remember that this is my personal opinion, if you liked the books more than the movies or the movies more than the books and I did the contrary, that’s totally okay! Different perspectives are amazing because our world would be very boring if we liked the same things all the time. Now that we’ve settled this, let’s get into the actual post!
- Book-to-Movie Adaptations I actually loved
- Lord of The Rings
(But I did say it, Aragorn, deal with it!)
As a person that adores Tolkien and his world so much, I will say it once and then you won’t be able to get it from me anytime again : I like the movies better than the books! Abort! ABORT! Phew, apparently, I’m still alive and you haven’t started throwing stones at me (hopefully)! I feel like Peter Jackson did a great job at choosing the right parts to include in the movies and he also did such a marvelous job at creating beautiful characters and revealing their personalities in a way that Tolkien didn’t. I love you, Tolkien, but sometimes you’re so absorbed in the landscape that you forget to get into your characters’ heads and hearts and describe what they’re feeling and it’s really bothering me!!!
I feel like Peter Jackson created/put in the spotlight so many new, unexplored relationships/friendships. For example, Legolas and Gimli – I feel like I could’ve brushed aside their friendship in the books, but in the movies, it’s such a huge part and it made me so happy. Also, Arwen and Aragorn that are otp material in the movie without anybody being able to say anything else (I dare you to try!!), in the books they are only there for three seconds. Sam and Frodo have a beautiful friendship everywhere, though, I can’t complain about it!
- Pride & Prejudice (1995 and 2005)
(wow, Marta, what an original gif you’ve chosen)
I don’t think they are better than the book, but they were probably as good and it was pretty cool to see Mr. Darcy on my screen *heart eyes* . I’ve watched the 2005 version before I’ve read the book and the 1995 one after reading the book, but I feel like they all have their strong points. The 2005 one has Keira and Rosamund, the 1995 has Colin Firth, and the book is just glorious. I really wish I could read more Austen books, but I didn’t have much luck with her books afterwards. Maybe recommend me some books in the comments? (I’ve read Northanger Abbey and didn’t like it all that much)
- A Monster Calls
I feel like I love the book a little bit more than the movie, but the movie adaptation was still perfect. I had huge doubts about how they were going to handle different visual effects, but everything went smoothly and the visual effects were A+++. The story is heartbreaking in either form and as I’ve said before, I absolutely recommend this one!
- Everything, Everything
This movie was really beautiful, I loved seeing the characters on the screen!! I’ve had a hate-to-love relationship to the book, I’ve loved the writing, hated the plot-twist. I feel like the movie saved some things, maybe it’s because of the actors because I adore Amandala ever since she had been Rue. The girl made me cry bitter tears through The Hunger Games. I loved how the movie was faithful to the book because I hate when movies decide to change everything about the books they’re adapted from (unless they are good changes).
- The 100
Even though I haven’t watched the last season yet, the tv show is so much better than the books. I’ve only read the first book and it was very bad compared to the tv show. (Also, Bob Morley is everything and I want him to always grace my screen because he’s an angel). Bellarke is also pretty awful in the books, there’s no Raven (what a ridiculous joke), the Grounders don’t even make an appareance until the end of the book and I feel like they are less bad-ass than in the tv show, anyway. Yap. All the points go to the tv-show.
2. Book-to-Movie Adaptations I disliked
- Before I Fall
This movie seemed so repetitive, oh my god. I can understand, though, I feel like it’s hard to make fun movies with this subject (having someone die again and again and then being brought back to solve things in their life) – if you’re wondering, it’s not a spoiler I just gave you. It’s in the book’s blurb. But I can’t remember the book being this boring, I’ve read it back in 2013 (I don’t trust that past me that much, though) and gave it four out of five stars, so I must have liked something. The movie just frustrated the hell out of me and did nothing else.
- Vampire Academy
Speaking of Zoey Deutch, what’s up with her and bad young adult adaptations? I actually really like her, but the movies – not so much. This one had a lot of potential, I loved the cast, but they turned it into a laugh-worthy movie. I saw this one in the cinema with some friends that hadn’t read the books, they all thought we were watching a comedy. Why such fake vampire teeth? wHy??? UGH. I really hope somebody tries to adapt the series into movies again (or better yet, into a tv-show) because it has the potential to be wonderful and bad-ass.
- The Hobbit
You might wonder how a person like me (who places LOTR in her favourite adaptations and The Hobbit in her disliked ones) exists. Well, I think I’m not in the minority here. Peter Jackson – lemme scream at you. What were you thinking when you split one damn book into three movies??? WHAAAAT? Why didn’t you make The Silmarillion a movie instead and then looked through The History of Middle Earth? I’m sure, us, die-hard fans of Middle Earth would have loved everything being turned into a movie, but this??
I do thank you, however, for getting Legolas into the movies. Because y’know, there’s never too much Legolas.
- Carrie (2013)
I have loved the book, but I disliked the movie because it was very dramatic, the acting was off and it didn’t scare me (at all?). The book was amazing, that ending terrified me and the suspension was glorious, it built up to everything. Sadly, the movie looked like a bad teen movie. Not for me, sorry!
- The Giver
I adored the book, it is so important to the dystopian genre and I feel like so many people should read it!! But the movie felt just bland, there were so many plot lines that were so much better in the book-verse and the movie just ruined them. But I’m thankful that they weren’t afraid to keep the black and white format. Kudos to them for that. Also, what is Taylor Swift doing in the movie????
Also, I’ll leave you with a list of my very anticipated book-to-movie adaptations :
- To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
- Love, Simon
- The Goldfinch
- The Lord of the Rings tv show (I know people feel so and so about it and so do I, but you have to understand that this is my childhood and I will always be looking forward to seeing it in any forms.)
- The Darkest Minds
- Others that I’m forgetting right now
What are some of your favourite book adaptations and your least favourites? Do you agree with any of my choices?
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Oh god. The adaptation of the Hobbit was awful! The things they added to the storyline were so disappointing and unnecessary. It could have been such a cool, lighthearted adventure movie…I loved the adaptation of A Monster Calls. I wasn’t really sure because I love the book so much but I completely agree. It’s perfect (and Liam Neeson’s voice for the monster is just fantastic)
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Yessss! They ruined my poor bby, I feel like The Hobbit is such a simple, nice read, fast-paced and everything! I’m happy you loved A Monster Calls, is your blog title a reference to it? 😂
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Yep, it totally is a reference. 😀
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I tried to read the LOTR books in college but I was too busy with schoolwork and ended up abandoning it, so I feel like I’m not qualified to comment on this… but from what I read I definitely preferred the films too! Also, my friends dragged me to the Vampire Academy when it came out, I’d never heard of it and didn’t even know it was a book series, but we all loved it for how unintentionally comedic it was?? So I guess I kind of assumed the books were also slightly comedic, so it is interesting to hear that this is not the case??? So I’d probably have hated the film if I’d read the books first, but I don’t read a lot of YA and I don’t really like vampire things in general, so with my very low standards I was able to embrace the silliness.
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Ah, I know what you mean, I gave up on so many good books because of college. It’s not the book, it’s just me having too many other courses to read beside the books. Maybe you should try the books again, I don’t know why, but I have a feeling you might like them 😁
Lol, yeah, the book series aren’t all that comical besides some characters being really sarcastic and those being comic reliefs. But it’s a pretty serious book series about friendships, romances, loyalty and so on. I was pretty obsessed with them when I was fifteen because I was only getting into reading and Rose (the main character) was very strong and a huge contrast to how women were represented in the Romanian classics I had to read for school.
I’m not sure if I would still enjoy the series now because I haven’t read vampire books ever since and I’m not a huge fan of Urban Fantasy and werewolves/vampires anymore.
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Ugh I hardly read for fun at all in college and it was awful! That was also when I decided to tackle the Game of Thrones series, so of course that monopolized all my reading time. I do intend to give LOTR another shot, though! I love the story, so I imagine I’d get a lot more from the books if I’m not drowning in schoolwork.
Are you Romanian?? I don’t think I realized that! I don’t think I’ve ever read a Romanian book before… but I can imagine that Vampire Academy would be a refreshing change!
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Owww, you’re braver than I will ever be. I don’t know if I could read GOT anytime soon, I haven’t even watched the tv show. Was the book series good? It feels like a lot of work and I’m not sure if I will like it.
Yess, please do it! I’d be glad to fangirl with you about it! ❤ Yes, I am! And I don't think you would be able to, there are a few translated books. Mircea Eliade is one of the translated authors that I would totally recommend. 🙂
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Ugh don’t watch the tv show – it starts out really amazing but it becomes so unapologetically misogynistic that it’s sort of difficult to watch. I love the books, though! Definitely a big time commitment, but the characters are amazing and the worldbuilding isn’t too overwhelming (which is good for me, I’m not a big fantasy person, haha).
I’ll look up Mircea Eliade right now, thanks for the rec!
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1000% agree about the LoTR movies and all your reasoning! I LOVED the movies when I first saw them as a teenager, but every time I’ve tried to read the books I just can’t get into them. They just feel so much drier and the personalities I fell in love with in the movies are lacking in the books for me. The movies just feel so much richer to me!
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I know it took me a long time to finish The Fellowship, I started it a few times and gave up before eventually finishing it. But I can assure you that the second book is so much better, like Tolkien steps up his game in it. But he never explored the characters as much as Peter Jackson did! 😧 Legolas seemed so weird to me in the books, his first line is something about going off to chase the sun and I was laughing so hard because “they’re taking the hobbits to Isengard” is better, hands off. 😂😂
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I feel like adaptations for me are always a little hit-or-miss, and it really depends on what it is. There aren’t many movies that I prefer to the actual book, but there are some that I like equally as much. To stop myself getting frustrated I try to view them as separate things and try my best not to make comparisons, because otherwise it always seems so much worse to me haha.
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Hahaha, I can see your point, it’s just so hard. Most of the time, the comparisons are automatic, they’d change something huge and I’d be like “nononono, why? The book had a better idea, why did you change it for the worse?”. My non-readers friends watching adaptations with me because of that 😂😂 But your perspective is totally the healthy one here!
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Great list! I love Lord of the Rings. I still need to read the book. I’m glad you liked the movie more because I can still delay reading the book then hehe..
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Hahaha! I feel like me watching the movies before reading the books is also an important factor because I’ve heard people that the read the books first saying they like them better. So, I guess it could work either way. But I really loved experiencing the universe in bookish format too, so do read the books at some point! ❤
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I definitely agree about The 100! I once read somewhere that the tv/movie rights were bought before the author even finished writing the book, which explains the drastic differences between the two. Anyway, I’m glad for the difference!
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Ah, yes, I think you’re right! But even so, they are so different. They literary kept nothing, Clarke and Bellamy are so different! 😱 I was very surprised when I read the first book because I was expecting those badass characters with a side romance we aren’t getting into the tv show and it turned out very different.
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Great post! I agree with so many of these. I loved the LOTR movies so, so much. I loved Legolas and Gimli’s friendship SO MUCH. I haven’t watched Everything, Everything and A Monster Calls just yet, but I now can’t wait to 🙂
I wasn’t too fond of The Hobbit adaptation, either, I’m not sure why, maybe it’s just because there were so many moviees, why. I also agree on The Giver, I much, muuuch prefered the book.
I can’t WAIT for Lara Jean’s adaptation, I hope it will be good! ❤
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Yessss, their friendship is everything to me and I absolutely adored that part in the Hobbit where Legolas meets Gimli’s father and goes like : “who’s this ugly thing?”. I couldn’t stop laughing.
Watch theeeem so we can fangirl about them!! ❤ Yes, that’s my opinion too, it got dragged out a lot and it was obvious that they didn’t have enough book material and were filling the holes with random plotlines at times.
I need that adaptation now, are there any news about whether it’s going to be a trilogy or just one movie???
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Hm… I haven’t heard anything about it so far. In fact, I feel like the movie is pretty much under the radar at the moment, no one talks about it, well not as much as simon vs., for instance, which makes me really nervous ahah.
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Same hereee! I’m very excited about Simon vs., but Lara Jean will always be my baby and I really want the movie to be glorious. ❤
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Completely agree about LoTR and Pride and Prejudice! Those adaptations were amazing. I’ve probably watched both the 1995 and 2005 versions of Pride and Prejudice about A BILLION times. I was so sad about the Hobbit too. And ugggghhhhh The Giver. I was super curious about the movie and then I heard it was awful and I’ve been too scared to watch it. 😭
And since this feels like a safe space to voice our adaptation gripes, I was sooooo upset with the Lovely Bones movie. That’s one of my favorite books and I didn’t like the way they depicted all of the fantasy, heaven sequences. I just spend most of my time pretending it didn’t happen despite how much I love Mark Wahlberg. Lol.
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Ahhh, The Giver wasn’t awful, in my opinion, it just made me feel absolutely nothing, too bland. But I’d say give it a try, everybody has different opinions and you should see it, so you can form your own.
Aww, I’m glad my post made you feel safe to voice your opinions (my blog is always a safe place to do so, even if our opinions won’t be similar). I haven’t read the book, sadly, I’ve watched the movie and liked it. But I’ve heard many people who have read the book saying the movie sucked. So, maybe I should give the book a try and see on what side I am. 🙂
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One of my favorite Pride & Prejudice adaptations is the web series the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. It was a great modern adaptation of a classic story, and I even liked the web series Emma Approved, which was a modernization of Jane Austen’s Emma.
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I’ve seen the web series and it was AMAZING! I especially loved the portrayal of Darcy and Lizzie in this one! ❤ I have to rewatch it soon! I haven’t seen Emma Approved yet, though!
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You get to see more Caroline Lee in Emma Approved, so it does tie in to LBD a little bit.
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I have many favorite movie adaptations like gone girl, the boy in the stripped pyjamas. Favorite TV adaptation would undoubtedly be ‘The handmaid’s tale’.
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Ahhh, yess, I can’t believe I’ve forgotten about Gone Girl, it was amazing!!! ❤ I haven't watched The Handmaid's Tale yet because I'm still hoping I'll read the book at some point. I don't know why I haven't felt in the mood to do that yet.
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I haven’t completed the whole of LOTR yet so can’t comment completely but I feel like the films will always be special as I was so young when I watched them that’s what I remember when you say Tolkien. Although I have to agree with The Hobbit. I had read that before the film and disappointed doesn’t even come close to describing how I felt watching the film!
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Same here! The movies will always be special to me, they make me so happy, I feel like I should watch them again soon because I’ve been feeling down and they always lift my mood. I’m glad you agree with me, I’m sad Peter Jackson went with the three movies, instead of one.
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Hmmmmmm, I actually liked Vampire Academy? *she says laughing nervously and trying to hide* Okay, no. I really liked it, even though I knew how bad it was, but I did enjoy it and the movie led me to the book. Also, I didn’t dislike Before I Fall – not my favourite book and yes, super repetitive, but better than I thought it would be. I actually spent a good time watching it. I haven’t read the book of this one, so I can’t talk much, but I’m aware that Vampire Academy had a lot more of potential to become a good movie.
I absolutely loved Pride and Prejudice (talking about the 2005 movie, haven’t watched the other yet) ❤ Talking about P&P adaptations, have you watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries? ^^
AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO RAVEN IN THE 100 BOOKS? I love the tv show and her character, but I don't think I'll read the books anytime soon xD
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Ahhh, I think it’s easier to enjoy it if you haven’t read the books yet! But that’s totally okay, I’m glad you liked it! ❤ Yesss, I watched the web series so much!! It was amazing, especially the relationship between Darcy and Lizzie, so beautiful, otp material! ❤ I’ve been so sad by the fact that there was no Raven.
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I think I’ve only watched Pride and Prejudice out of everything on your whole list. I do plan on watching Everything Everything eventually, though. On the tv/movie site, I write for, I’m working on a post about upcoming book-to-movie adaptations so this topic is one I’ve been thinking about a lot lately lol.
Some of my favorites include Princess Diaries, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Christmas Carol and Romeo and Juliet. Hmm some of my least favorites are the rebooted Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the rebooted Carrie and I’m blanking on the rest lol.
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Do watch it, it’s pretty cute! ❤ Aw, I'm so happy to hear that! What's the tv/movie site you're writing on called? Hahaha, totally didn't like Carrie! 😦 I've watched the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but I was so and so about it, I suppose I should have watched it when I was younger.
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To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before!!!! I can’t wait for this to come out! ALTHOUGH…. I’m so disappointed in the person they casted for Peter Kavinsky. I mean, he is cute but not Peter K material in my opinion.
Before I Fall was a beautiful adaptation!!!
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Ah, I haven’t seen enough photos with him to give my opinion on him, he looks pretty cute. To me, Peter K. is all about the attitude and the confidence he has, so I’m waiting to see his acting. I’m glad you liked Before I fall! ❤ I really wanted to like it, but I didn't. 😦
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Yes I agree!!!! I’ll wait for the movie to come out and see how he plays the character before setting my mind on one opinion of him just yet!
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I completely agree! The movie adaption of The Giver was such a let down, especially considering how incredible the book was. 😦 The Pride and Prejudice movies are both really good though, xD Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous post! ❤
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YESSS! Pride and Prejudice made me love period dramas so much, it’s an incredible book and it has some of the best adaptations! ❤
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Great post idea!! I actually liked Before I fall, but I didn’t know it was from a book!
Vampire Academy disappointed me as well bur I still wanted them to adapt the second and the third ^^
The 100 is one of my favorite TV show ever, and Pride and Prejudice (2005) one of my favorite movies so we agree on that 😀
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Yeah, it’s from a book written by Lauren Oliver (she has also written Delirium, if you know the series). SAMEEE about VA, I really wish they continued because maybe, maybe things would have gotten better. ❤
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I’ll be honest, Pride and Prejudice is just on my bookshelf…waiting for me to read it, haha!
With school at the moment, I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I’d like to. So I’ll be giving it go during this winter break with a nice cup of coffee / hot chocolate 🙂
This is a great blog post, really opens my eyes to all the possibilities of things to watch / read 🙂
El @ Exclusory 💕
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Awww, I hope you love Pride & Prejudice, it’s been a lovely read for me! ❤ I have so many books that I need to read during the winter break! 💕
I’m glad you liked the post, thank you very much for your comment! 😘
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I read the Monster Calls book, but still haven’t seen the film. Thanks for the reminder! I read the Lord of The Rings books when I was so little I’m not sure I really understood them. I keep meaning to go back and reread so that I can form an accurate comparison to the films, but it hasn’t happened yet. So many books, so little time!
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No problem! 🤗 What are blog posts for? If not, for reminding us about movies we haven’t watched, books we haven’t read and so on?
Ah, definitely give it a reread. Did you like the movies though? 😊
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LOL, so true 🙂
Yes, indeed! I need to reread it, but, there are so many books on my TBR… I can’t even get to all the ones I haven’t read yet, LOL.
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Damn I was excited for the Before I Fall adaptation. Now I just don’t want to see it. I’m always careful what to watch in book to movie adaptations. The only one I watched is Love, Simon. I’m hoping to read A Monster Calls, Everything, Everything, and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before so I can see the movies!
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