After a week's hiatus for the President's Day holiday, the Monday Discussion is back with a post Oscar Edition.
Each year in preparation for the Oscars, my husband and I go out and see each movie nominated in the Best Picture category. We enjoy that we can feel indignant outrage when a bad movie wins, and celebrate when the Academy gets it right. This year, we both loved Life of Pi and felt like it was by far the best directed film. We were happy to see Ang Lee win last night.
We had also both read the novel in the past and did not like it. We only saw the movie because it was nominated for Best Picture, but I glad it was. Everything we did not like about the book (it was too preachy, too pedantic, it told you how to think too much, it lacked subtly) was gone in the movie. What you got was a gorgeous, subtle, and spiritual tale that enchanted you while you watched it and made you think about its themes and "point" long after.
This got me thinking about movie adaptations of books in general. More often than not you hear that the book is always better than the movie; however with Life of Pi, I 100% disagree.
A quick search by Intern Elizabeth also found this article in the Huffington Post listing 11 movies that are better than the book (Life of Pi inspired their post too). There was some choices on this list that I agree with too, but others I felt they got wrong.
But what about you? For today's post Oscar, Monday Discussion, let me know if there is a movie you think is better than the book.
For past Monday Discussions click here.
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8 comments:
I don't agree that the movie "The Princess Bride" was better than the book (even though it's probably my all time favorite movie). The book was laugh out loud funny and had great characterizations. I would say, however, that the movie enhanced my appreciation of the book.
Films that are better than the books:
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Blade Runner
The Shining
Fight Club
Interview With The Vampire
Dracula (Bela Lugosi version)
Dracula (Christopher Lee version)
Dracula (Frank Langella version)
Dracula (Gary Oldman version)
The Power of One! The movie was a celebration of unity; the book was one man's revenge story.
Shawshank Redemption
I am late to the game here, but I saw Beautiful Creatures over the weekend and our teen librarian (who has read the book; I have not) assured me that the movie was better than the book. She said that it cut out a lot of the angsty emo teen whining and also a lot of lengthy clothing descriptions. ;)
"How to Train Your Dragon" In the original, everyone trained their dragons by yelling at them and Hiccup... just never really trained his dragon, who stayed irritatingly whiny the whole time. In the movie, he led the path from killing dragons to making friends with them.
Marlise @StCharlesPL, Big Fish by Daniel Wallace - loved the visual interpretation by Tim Burton; thought the book was meh. However, I think it's worth noting I saw the film first. I wonder if often (not always) the one read/viewed 1st is the one you like more.
Hands Down "The Notebook" the movie was better than the book. I loved the movie ending!
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