Just read the steadfast tin soldier. And boy is that sad ending tacked on. It is the tacking on to beat all other tacking on’s. It is like if, when Bilbo had returned to his hobbit hole from his trip, a giant spider came up and ate him.
I’d like to second Cal Meacham’s assertation that those of us who have spoken about liking a happier ending than originally in the book or story as written are talking about “tacking on a happy ending.”
Certainly of the two movies listed in this thread I don’t think you can claim that “Mister Roberts” had a happy ending tacked onto it - considering the title character dies, off-screen, at the ending of the movie. However, it is not a sad ending dragged out of the writer’s arse without any foreshadowing.
Likewise, with “The Princess Bride,” the book ends with the author listing all the things that could go wrong after Our Heros Ride Off Into the Sunset. I thought, at the time, that was a jarring, and discordant note to end the book on. So, when that was avoided with the movie - it seemed, to me, a more fitting ending.
I don’t object to tragedy. I’m not about to start singing “Make it Gay.” I object to having the author or screenwriter setting up one sort of story, then going out and mugging the audience with a surprise ending that doesn’t really fit. As an example: The ending to Pay It Forward is a classic example of this sort of thing - an emotional mugging that has damned little to do with story that had been being told. Or if you want to take the worst example I know: The ending to the anime Minky Momo was particularly egregious: a magical girl anime that ends with the main character getting run over by a truck!
(About MAS*H)
Did you read the book before seeing the TV show? IIRC, the book and movie tracked pretty well. Yes, people said that Altman made it an anti-war story, but seen from the view of the middle of the Vietnam War a service comedy could be that way also. The TV show, on the other hand, diverged quite radically from the feel of the movie and book. Far from being an Alan Alda type sensitive New Age guy, Hooker’s Hawkeye went back to Maine, opened up a combined clinic and fish store, and used “Democrat” as a curse.
I don’t think anyone is saying that. However, I would like to state that I don’t feel there is anything intrinsically more “tasteful” or “sophisticated” about a tragic ending.
I agree with Brain Glutton about The Firm. To me, the film version looked like the movie lawyers got their hands on it. I’ll take the book version any day.
(Did you notice at the end that there wasn’t a disclaimer saying "No Lawyers were hurt during he filming…)?
Other way around for me.
I thought the book was outstanding, and the movie and TV show sucked.
Agreed. I saw the movie first, then read the book and was quite disappointed.
Wait a minute. If memory serves me, this “adaptation” followed the book to its end and then said "wait a minute - this isn’t the guilty party (the one in the book), it’s someone else - and a chase ensues.
I thought it was the worst adaptation of a book in ages.
To hijack a bit, but we’re talking about tacked-on tragic endings. What about “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”? Now there was a tacked on tragic ending. The movie’s pretty much finished, and then 2 out of the 3 main characters die in a car wreck. What’s up with that? It didn’t add anything to the movie.
An example of a good tragic ending is “Turner and Hooch”. Hooch dying at the end of the movie added depth to the rest of the movie. Hooch doesn’t HAVE to die, but it makes a better movie that he dies.
My big one, Jaws, was already mentioned. The book was an okay beach/airplane read, but the movie is one my personal favorites. The movie version of Mrs. Brody is a much stronger woman. And making Brody an ex-New Yorker instead of a native islander is a change I liked as well.
My other big “movie is better than the book” is Silence of the Lambs. I like the book, but it’s trashy and sensationalist. So is the movie, I suppose, but with Anthony Hopikins and Jodie Foster it seems less so.
I expect the movie version of The Da Vinci Code to be more tolerable than the book. Without bringing up the “controversy” over accuracy or what have you, the book was just wretchedly written. I hated those two page chapters that ended on a “cliff hanger.” I think it will be much better in a visual medium, where I don’t have to deal with Brown’s horrid narration and bad, overdone descriptions. And while I don’t think Tom Hanks is right for the role as written, I am curious to see what he does with it.
Frankly, I don’t like Anderson’s Little Mermaid ending not because it’s sad, but because it’s AWFUL. I know, I know, children’s stories in those days were supposed to teach moral lessons, but come ON, that ending was like hitting the little tykes over the head with a Buick Skylark! Repeatedly! It was poorly done, and that offends me more than the nature of the ending.
I agree 100%. I might go even further and say there’s nothing intrinsically more REALISTIC about a tragic ending, either. But I know that’s a lot more controversial. 
Now I’m curious, how did Disney bastardize the Little Mermaid’s story?
Was it worse than what they did to The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
It was about the same. In the end, the Mermaid can’t bring herself to kill the Prince, which would break the spell and let her return to the sea. Instead, she kills herself, but since mermaids have no souls, she just turns into sea-foam.
Pretty much any film adaptation of a Michael Crichton book has been an improvement. He’s a really crappy novelist.
choke
Is this a whoosh? Hans Christian Anderson wrote a gorgeous tragedy, and Disney ripped the guts out of it and spat on its soul. Disney’s TLM is an unforgivable travesty.
I haven’t read the original story, but I don’t see what’s wrong with the Disney version. I think it’s an awesome movie.
If memory serves, instead of the bad guy being Japanese, they went PC and made the REAL bad guy a rich fat white guy so no one could be offended.
Judging by my listed location, I tend to agree.
The ending seems kind of tacked-on, doesn’t it?
Disney does love a happy ending too much, I have to admit (although I’m unstinting in my dislaike of Anderson’s TSTS, and I think he went overboard on The Little Mermaid, too), but I have to defend them somewhat on this – I don’t think there’s been any filmed adaptation that accurately portrays the ending as in Victor Hugo’s book.