Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down? Books Adapted to Movies
Friday September 17 2010 01:33 PM
This week on our Facebook page, we asked people to tell us about movie adaptations of books they’d read which hadn’t lived up to expectations. And as we thought, the response was huge. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo got a thumbs down, The Horse Whisperer got a thumbs up and Harry Potter got thumbs up and thumbs down!
When we read books, it’s as if we’re crafting our own movie, playing out a self directed plot if you will. Our imagination is kicked into overdrive, visualising the characters, the backdrop, layout and scenarios. And despite the best of efforts, movie adaptations will almost always fall short of our anticipated ideas as it is another player’s vision that is being presented. While there have been a few movies to date which have gone far and beyond their book counterpart, ‘The Godfather’ for one, invariably shortened, chopped and altered versions of our favourite novels are translated to screen, making for disappointing viewing.
We’d love to know what you think. For all you movie/book buffs out there, have you been pleasantly surprised by your cinema experiences or decidedly disappointed? If you’d like to take part in the debate then check out our new Facebook page. All opinions welcomed!
