I’ve no lack of reviews to write, but the weather is so hot and stuffy I just want to go into revelry instead of entering “Deep Thoughts” mode. So this is the perfect time for a Listopia post with my list of the ten best movies which were BETTER than the book.
I don’t subscribe to the dogma that all books are always better than their adaptation. Sometimes a story and its characters just shine a brighter on screen. That being said, it was only after completing the list that I realize I always saw these movie before reading the books. There’s a clear pattern here.
(PS: I don’t know about you, but Best Adapted Screenplay is my favorite Oscar category)
#1 Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
By the time I read Fight Club I’d already read my favorite Palahniuks so ended up short of impressed. It was his first book and I guess he was still trying to get to grips with his style.
It was with this movie that Helena Bonham Carter played for the first time the wacky-women type that just stuck with her (e.g. Bellatrix Lestrange, the girl in the Sweeny Todd).
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: Pixies singing “Where is my mind” while the world is ending.
#2 Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
This movie deviated quite a bit from the book, but it’s still a great Miyazaki. I did have more fun with it than the book, which was nice but didn’t deliver the magic I got from Studio Ghibli’s amazing colors and scenarios.
I’m afraid I’d probably feel the same thing if I ever decided to read Mary Norton’s The Borrowers, Ghibli’s latest adaptation.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: The climb up the Castle’s stairs.
#3 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The book’s first part was so good that by itself it wouldn’t make this list, but the second (after Celie found Nettie’s letters) didn’t grab me enough.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: Shug returns to church.
#4 The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
I can’t get tired of this movie and the first time I saw it I thought: what an amazing book this must be. Alas, the book and I didn’t hit it off, and I guiltily know it’s because I was expecting the story to be exactly as the adaptation. I had a hard time accepting that Maugham chose not to have Walter and Walter fall in love.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: Walter shows Kitty the watermill.
#5 The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Its movies like this that create perfect childhood memories. How could Ende compete with puppy-headed Luck Dragon? He replaced the pony-fantasy of every kid who saw him. I still think today that I might name a future son Bastian.
The book is interesting but a bit too long and moralistic. Also, I suspect the translation doesn’t to justice to its elaborate twists and turns.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: Luck Dragon’s face & voice.
*Alex hums Limahl*
#6 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
One of my favorite movies, which not even Ondaatje’s beautiful prose could dethrone.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: Kip shows Hana the frescos in an abandoned church.
#7 The Commitments by Roddy Doyle
The book was ok, but very short and didn’t allow as much characterization as the movie did. Still, it was the music that made the movie surpass the novel, big time. One of my favorite soundtracks.
Favorite not-in-the-book moments: “What are your influences?”
#8 Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
I gave up on the book half-way through it. It was a similar experience to The Painted Veil: the movie created expectation which the book didn’t live up to.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: Karen tells the story of the wandering Chinese.
#9 The Constant Gardener by John Le Carré
The movie had an emotional punch that Le Carré almost detached tone couldn’t match. I’m not a big fan of spy stories/thrillers, but the movie managed to be oh so much more than that. My girl-crush with Rachel Weisz started here.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: pregnant Tess walks around Nairobi.
#10 The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
The movie gives pace to Cooper’s slow burning narration (so dry, so dry…). Have you read Mark Twain’s essay criticizing Cooper? Is as hilarious as only a sharp review written by a smart person can be. A great example:
Every time a Cooper person is in peril, and absolute silence is worth four dollars a minute, he is sure to step on a dry twig. There may be a hundred other handier things to step on, but that wouldn’t satisfy Cooper. Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he can’t do it, go and borrow one. In fact, the Leatherstocking Series ought to have been called the Broken Twig Series.
Favorite not-in-the-book moment: “No, you submit, do you hear? You be strong, you survive… You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you.” *sigh*
What are yours?
The Sleepless Reader 
25 comments
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June 28, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Melissa
Such a great list. It’s hard to make a movie that’s better than the book, but I think the ones you’ve listed are good examples. I’d add the Lord of the Rings trilogy to this list.
June 28, 2011 at 9:22 pm
A Damned Conjuror
Artax!!
The Borrower Arrietty is directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi not Miyazaki.
I kind of want to read Kiki’s Delivery Service, the anime is one of my favourites and I don’t think it gets much love.
plus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYbfzFCnnzU & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPpS2zxvKxo = great
June 28, 2011 at 9:59 pm
Alex
You’re very right, I assumed it was his because it was one of Ghibli’s. I’ll make a change.
June 28, 2011 at 9:39 pm
amymckie
Wow, I had no idea that The Constant Gardener was a book! Loved the movie. I haven’t seen the movie but have read The Color Purple and have seen The Neverending Story movie. Interesting list here!
June 28, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Jillian ♣
Great post! I loved so many of these movies and can’t wait to read the books. 🙂
(Out of Africa is one of my favorite books. I find the writing so poetic. But the movie was really, really good too.) 🙂
June 28, 2011 at 10:32 pm
nomadreader
Fun! I always think of Under the Tuscan Sun. I found the book dull, but I loved the movie!
June 28, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Ti
The following films, in my opinion, were better than the book:
Misery
The Shining
Silence of the Lambs
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Godfather
Jaws
To Kill a Mockingbird
Gone with the Wind (never saw this but friends tell me it’s better).
June 28, 2011 at 11:00 pm
syrin
Totally agree with The Constant Gardener. I couldn’t even finish the book, but I absolutely loved the movie. Also, my love affair with Roddy Doyle started with The Commitments. I agree, the movie allows for a better characterization, but all in all, I still love the Barrytown trilogy.
Other than these two, I also found adaptation of Misery better than the original work. Bridget Jone’s Diary is another one that I prefer in the film adaptation. After all, you can’t beat Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, right?! 😉
June 29, 2011 at 12:44 am
T
You people are all heretics. Particularly you X.
Pfh.
(apart from the mention of the Godfather which is *probably* better than the book, dunno not having read the book. And a few might be. But Howl?!? How could you? And TLOTR wtf? I retire from this topic now due to serious taste clash).
June 29, 2011 at 1:23 am
Teresa
Without a doubt, LA Confidential. I saw the movie first and loved it, and the book was a big disappointment (not a bad book, but disappointing). The movie is the perfect mix of complexity and leanness. In comparison, the book is bloated.
This might be heresy, but I like the film of Atonement better than the book. I’m not sure it is better, but I liked it a lot more. The acting, the look, the sound (especially the sound!) are so wonderful.
June 29, 2011 at 4:01 am
Steph
In most cases I try to read the book before seeing the movie, though I don’t know why I feel so strongly about this. Maybe because I just really like going into books not knowing how they will turn out?
The one instance that I can really think of where I liked the movie much more than the book was About a Boy by Nick Hornby. The film version with Hugh Grant is brilliant and I really didn’t feel as though the book told the story any better than the film did.
Also, I have neither read the book nor seen the movie but I have a friend who loves the film Out of Africa like you do, but as far as I know did not super love the book.
June 29, 2011 at 5:53 am
Brooke Bove
I totally agree. It took me awhile to notice what you did – that watching the movie first usually means I like the movie better. The first movie I always think about is High Fidelity (Nick Hornby), and I’d agree with Steph above that About a Boy is probably better in movie.
As far as your list, I am going to wholeheartedly agree with A Painted Veil, and Fight Club.
Great Post! Always fun to think about!
June 29, 2011 at 9:46 am
Larissa
Great list and topic!
Although reading your post I realise that although there are only two movies I haven’t seen (yet) from your list, there’s only one book I read… And for this one I totally agree with you: the movie The Color Purple is one of my favorite movies, it is so moving and sweet and intense (and Whoopi Goldberg’s only good role), but the book ended up boring in the end.
June 29, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Iris
You just added a large number of movies to my “to be watched” list. I do love movie recommendations 🙂
June 29, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Kinna
I agree with your assessment of The Color Purple. The second part of the book is not as strong as the first. It is enough that she found her sister’s letters but the sideline to Africa was not neccessary. Especially since Walker gets the geography and language of whatever African country it was wrong. Very interesting list.
July 1, 2011 at 6:32 am
Shelley
The Painted Veil is the only one that I’ve seen the movie and read the book. Like you I saw the movie first, and loved it. I did enjoy the book too, even though it twisted the outcome.
By the way, you won the copy of Middlemarch for my giveaway. I’ve sent you an email, but I thought I would mention it just in case.
July 1, 2011 at 11:13 am
The Literary Nomad
Great list! The English Patient is one of my all-time favourite movies but I haven’t yet read the book.
As for my own suggestions, I preferred the movie version of The Last King of Scotland and have found that I prefer to re-watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice than re-read the book, sacreligious as that might be! And, while I absolutely adored the movie Dangerous Liaisons (favourite not in book bit is where John Malkovich keeps saying ‘It’s beyond my control’), I found the book boring.
July 2, 2011 at 11:06 am
anothercookiecrumbles
Breakfast at Tiffany’s? Love Story? Virgin Suicides?
Also, slightly controversial, but thought the Schindler’s List movie was extremely well done. Better than the book? Well, I don’t know…..
July 7, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Joanna
Hmmm… i think I have some movie-watching to do, I don’t think I’ve seen any of these!
July 14, 2011 at 11:11 am
James
This is a great list. I definitely agree that Fight Club is better as a movie. The movie adaptation of Empire of the Sun (starring a young Christian Bale) was really good – but I liked the book too. I much preferred The Shawshank Redemption movie to the Stephen King novella ‘Rita Hayworth’ upon which it is based (the film has a better name too).
July 20, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Alex
@Melisa: LoTR – blasphemy 🙂 But yes, it’s really difficult for that to happen, but I’m also almost sure that I was influenced when I saw the movie before reading the book.
@Amy: The Constant Gardener was read by my bookclub earlier this year. I thought it was too much of a spy story and didn’t deliver the emotional punch of the movie. Or maybe it was just Rachel Weisz!
@Jillian: The problem with the book Out of Africa is that it’s real life 🙂
@nomadreader: If I’d ever been able to finish Under the Tuscan Sun it would make the list, but i was just too bored. Like Out of Africa, maybe the problem is that it was based on real life.
@Ti: To Kill a Mockingbird – really? Why is poor Stephen King always in these types of lists? I’ve never read anything by him, nor am really curious. What for when apparently the movies are always better?
@Teresa: Atonement the movie did credit to the book, but I’d still go with the original story. Cried buckets!
@Steph: About a Boy is a great movie (Grant’s best?), but haven’t read the book. There is a reason why Out of Africa the book is much more obscure…
July 20, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Alex
@Brooke Bove: Nick Hornby, like Stephen King always makes it into these lists. High Fidelity almost made this list, but I’ve decided that they’re tied 🙂
@Larissa: I was sorry for TCP’s lost potential with that second half. it;s almost like two different books!
@Iris: We should do post about movie more often. Book-lovers are usually also movie-lovers.
@Kinna: Does she? I had no idea! I’ll need to Google that…
@Shelley: I really, really liked the movie and don;t care what the author wrote, for me the movie is the real story *Alex stamps her foot*! Middlemarch arrived last week. Thanks once again!
@The Literary Nomad: I’m almost sure that Dangerous Liaisons would be on the list if I’ve read the book. My little crush on John Malkovich (yeah, I know most people think it’;s weird) started there.
@anothercookiecrumbles: Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a great movie, but I’ll still go with Capote. The book is really small, that’s why the movie seems to give us more. Also heard the same about Schindler’s List, but haven’t read it.
@Joanna: In that case we need to have a girl’s night/afternoon and watch The painted Veil!
@James: Stephen King – poor him, always at least once in every movie-better list 😦
July 26, 2011 at 10:39 am
Rikki
Interesting what you said about the Neverending Story. It is my all time favourite example for a movie that failed completely, :). I read the book long before the movie came out and the movie was the biggest disappointment you can imagine. And not simply because it stopped right in the middle of the book. I hated it from start to finish.
September 6, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Listopia: Favorite “Best Books” Lists « The Sleepless Reader
[…] Movies better than the book […]
September 6, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Arti
I’m a year late in commenting. But this is an interesting list, and I can’t agree with you more re. The English Patient, even with that favourite scene. However, I’m the opposite with The Painted Veil. I like the book much more, esp. when there are some brilliant lines and passages that I find missing in the film. Anyway, my addition to your list here, where I find the movie much more enjoyable than the book: Away From Her (Sarah Polley’s Oscar nominated directorial debut, based on Alice Munro’s short story) and The American (George Clooney stars. The book is nowhere as deep).