Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Best/Worst Movie Adaptations

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Don't forget to check out their great blog!

This week's topic: Top ten best/worst movie adaptions.

Now this is going to be a tricky one for me.  I really don't watch many movie adaptation, mainly because I don't think they can do the book justice.  For instance, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is my favorite book.  And there is a movie, which she even helped to write and cast, but I still haven't seen it because I know it won't live up to my high standards.  Also, when I someday reread those books, will I see the characters as the movie characters, or as the people I saw in my head the first time I read them??  So instead of doing that, how about I take a few movie adaptations I've seen (of books I've read, of course) and talk about those.

1. The Time Traveler's Wife.  So I adored this book.  Loved it loved it loved it.  Like, one of my top favorites ever.  And I liked the movie.  If I hadn't read the book before seeing the film, I probably would have loved it instead of liked it.  I loved the casting.  Rachel McAdams is gorgeous and played Claire perfectly, and who doesn't love Eric Bana??  But the movie cut out my favorite two scenes from the book.  So I was waiting to get all emotional at these parts, and that didn't happen because they weren't in the movie.  And the ending was changed.  And the ending of the book was like the big tearjerker for me!

2. Persuasion.  My sister has the Sony Pictures Classic one from 1995 on DVD.  I watched this movie a few years after reading the book so my memory was a bit cloudy on exactly what goes down, but I really loved this movie.  It is probably going to be one I go back to and watch on rainy depressing days while I eat chocolate and drink a whole bottle of wine.  I loved the actors and thought the movie stayed very true to the book.  Also I am just a huge fan of period movies.

3. Jane Eyre.  The one that came out just a few years ago and was showing at the movies??  The movie itself I really liked, if I didn't compare it to the book.  I liked the actors and thought they did a great job, but they didn't fit the characters in the book!  Jane was supposed to be very plain and the actress was beautiful.  And Mr. Rochester in the movie was gorgeous!!  But in the book if I remember correctly he's supposed to be kind of ugly, right?

4. Shutter Island.  Let me first say that the casting was OH MY GOSH AMAZING.  Eye candy, thank you whoever cast Leo and Mark Ruffalo.  I thought the movie was nice and creepy, and like a lot of the movies above, I would have liked this more if I hadn't first read the book.  There was some great dialog in the book that was left out of the movie, if I remember correctly towards the end?  This would be a great movie to rewatch around Halloween, but the book would be a better, creepier read.

5. No Country for Old Men.  I loved them both.  The movie was amazing, and then a few years later I read the book and that was amazing.  I would like to rewatch the movie now that I've read the book though.

And that is that.  Only five.  I know I've seen more but these are the ones that come to mind immediately.  What are some of your favorite/least favorite book to movie adaptations??  Or are you like me and tend to shy away from the movies altogether?

2 comments:

  1. I have seen so many different JANE EYRE adaptations. I have to say, the latest one is the one I've liked least of all - mainly because I love the gothic elements of the story and they were all eliminated for this latest adaptation!

    I put SHUTTER ISLAND on my list, too! Loved the movie and the book.

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  2. Kelly - you know how I feel about Jane Eyre so I'm sure you won't be surprised when I say the movie you mention made me appreciate the story a LOT more. I've gone from absolutely despising Jane to just hating her. ;) <3 Heather

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