10 Favorite Film Adaptations of Books

In honor of the Sundance Film Festival (happening now) and the Academy Awards (coming soon), we decided to take a small departure from books and venture into the movie category.  But this is a book blog, so we still had to talk about books a little bit.  Hence today’s list: 10 of our favorite film adaptations of books.

They always say the book is better than the movie, and for the most part they are right.  (Whoever “they” are.)  But sometimes Hollywood gets it right and stays true to the original story.  Sometimes the film makes you appreciate the book even more.  And sometimes the movie becomes something entirely different from the book, and yet a completely enjoyable experience.  These movies (and the books they were based off of) are ones we think are worth watching AND reading.

Shannon’s picks:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

• I read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as a young adult, and I have to admit, I didn’t really get it.  It seemed like a crazy book that bounced all over the place and made very little sense.  I had no desire to read any of the sequels.  Then years later, I watched the movie.  (I know what you’re thinking: why exactly did I watch the movie if I didn’t like the book?  The answer is love.  I watched it because my husband wanted to see it.  We do crazy things for love.)  Watching it come to life, it suddenly made sense to me.  Maybe I had been in the wrong mindframe when reading it, but I followed along much better as I watched the movie.  Things that had seemed entirely too random now had a place in the plot.  And not only did I follow along, I enjoyed it!  So much so that I am now willing to re-read the book.  I haven’t given the sequels a go yet, but I would be happy to give them a try, once they pop to the top of my to-read list.  This is a rare case of the movie inspiring me to reexamine the book.
• How Long: The book: 224 pages; the movie: 1 hour 49 minutes.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

• Long before I read this book, I watched the movie (with Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant) multiple times.  To the point that I had many sections memorized.  I still do.  This is one of my very favorite, go-to movies.  I enjoyed getting “the rest of the story” when I finally read the book, but I still maintain that this movie is worth watching even without ever reading the book.  They did a remarkable job of keeping the essence of the book while working in the time constraints of a feature film.  In 2008 the BBC filmed a mini-series version (along with a number of other Jane Austen works), which I have also come to adore.  You can’t go wrong with either one, really.
• How Long: The book: 368 pages; the movie: 136 minutes; the mini-series: 3 episodes totaling 174 minutes.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

• Can you tell we love this book?  It’s on just about every list we make, it seems.  Obviously, it’s a great read.  I grew up watching the 1980s BBC mini-series, and it was fine and good, but not something I would ever sit and watch now.  However, the 2005 movie?  I’ll watch that any day of the week.  It’s a beautiful version of a beautiful story that leaves me longing to find Narnia myself.  The soundtrack is particularly inspiring.
• How Long: The book: 208 pages; the mini-series: 171 minutes; the movie: 143 minutes.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara/Gettysburg

• This is the only film on this list that has a different name from the book.  And yet, I think it might be the film that stays closest to the book.  I know they wrote a separate screenplay, but it feels like they didn’t.  So much of the dialogue is lifted straight from the book, I’m not convinced they didn’t just copy and paste it all in.  I mentioned this on my review of The Killer Angels.  It’s one of my favorite books of all time, and thus one of my favorite movies too.  It’s a long one, but so beautifully done, in the writing, in the cinematography, in the acting, in the score.  It all comes together to create a work of art, while also portraying one of the most important battles in the history of our nation.
• How Long: The book: 355 pages; the movie: 271 minutes (yes, that’s 4 ½ hours, it’s a long one)..

The Martian by Andy Weir

• As you may recall, I really enjoyed reading The Martian except for one thing: the language.  The writing is smart and funny, the story is engaging, but the characters certainly love the f-bomb.  If you feel the same way about language in books, I have great news for you: the movie cuts back on the language!  It still isn’t squeaky clean, but it’s loads better.  Plus the movie is just as smart and engaging as the book.  An enjoyable read, and an enjoyable film.
• How Long: The book: 387 pages; the movie: 144 minutes.

 

Kim’s picks:

Matilda by Roald Dahl

• I’m sure my 3rd grade class read plenty of things, but the only thing I remember reading is Roald Dahl book after Roald Dahl book. And while I liked some of his books ok, I never really connected with the characters or felt inspired by the plotlines. But when I saw the movie Matilda a few years later, I finally got it. It might have partially been that I was older and could appreciate a story about a girl who doesn’t fit in (and I definitely didn’t fit in later in elementary school) and so uses her abilities to carve out a better life for herself. There’s a certain levity and magic to the film that, when combined with the quirkiness it draws from the book, definitely makes it worth your time.
• How Long: book is 240 pages, movie is 1 hour 42 minutes

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

• This story has three rarities:
  • 1) The movie somehow does the book justice (for the record, I still think the book is better–but some of that is just because there is more time to develop character backstories and insert witty abridgement notes)
  • 2) It has incredible rewatching/rereading potential.
  • 3) It lives up to its claim to be “about everything.” World building? Check. Action and adventure? Check. True love? Yep. Mystery and intrigue? It’s all in there.
• How Long: book is 398 pages, movie is 1 hour 38 minutes

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

• I’ve talked to a LOT of people who hated the 2012 version of this movie. And I sort of get why the raw and unpolished singing would grate on an audience used to hearing perfection all the time. But isn’t that sort of the point? That you have these ordinary people—these “miserables”—who aren’t polished and perfect? I finished all 1,463 pages of this book the night before I went to see the movie, and the backstories of the book were so fresh in my mind that I literally sobbed while watching the actors bring the characters to life–and with such feeling. When you’re trying to condense a work as long and momentous as Les Misérables into a movie (and/or a musical), I think you have to make a choice: do you tell a rushed version of the plot or the story of the characters? I think the 2012 version decided to tell the story of the characters and what they were feeling. In the end this might have meant the singing wasn’t as pretty or the plot as cohesive, but I think it more successfully captured the true essence of the book given the time constraints.
• How Long: The book is 1,463 pages. (And that’s if you read it in English. The French is about 1,900.) The 2012 movie is 2 hours 40 minutes.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Levine

• This book, which also won the 1998 Newbery Award, is hands down much better than the movie. In fact, you almost can’t compare them side by side. Ella is given the “gift” of obedience in both stories and in both cases she tries to get the fairy who gave her this “gift” to take it back so she can take her life into her own hands. But while the book felt like it was doing this to challenge traditional female gender roles, the movie focused more on the romantic comedy part of it. And yet . . . I thought the movie was fun, in a guilty pleasure, I-can’t-ever-admit-I-just-watched-that-and-enjoyed-it kind of way. You have to know what you’re getting into, but I definitely think there is a time and a place where this kind of movie can be enjoyed.
• How Long: book is 232 pages, movie is 1 hour 36 minutes

Holes by Louis Sachar

• I was standing outside a movie theater with some friends the first time I heard about this movie.
  • Me: “what’s that movie even about?”
  • Friend: “a story about some guys digging holes in a desert.”
  • Me: “oh, what genre is it–what’s it like?”
  • Friend, shrugging shoulders: “I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”

No one voted to see it based on that rousing endorsement. But having seen it several times since then, I can tell you it’s a lot more engaging and moving than a movie about guys digging holes in a desert. It’s about a family curse that started with Stanley Yelnats’ no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. It’s a mystery about why a bunch of boys at a detention center are digging holes in the middle of the desert. It’s a coming-of-age story about a group of boys society has written off. It’s a story examining the ins and outs crime and punishment. And even though I adore this movie, the Newbery Award winning book from 1999 I read later is amazingly even better.

• How Long: book is 233 pages, movie is 2 hours