# Has a movie adaptation of a beloved book ever lived up to your expectations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760 "2018-01-02T17:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/161 "2018-01-17T16:44:02Z")
as I’ve remarked before, adaptations of the works of H.G. Wells are usually pretty bad, and generally seem to miss the point of the work. Even Wells himself made a mess out of his own **Things to Come**. But there’s one adaptation of a Wells story that is as good as, or maybe even better than the original story – **The Man who could Work Miracles**. It uses state-of-the-art 1930s special effects, including stop-motion animation and rear projection to bring the story to life. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/162 "2018-01-17T18:03:06Z")
TV series make for good adaptations moreso than movies these days. Recent ones I have enjoyed: **The Expanse** ; **Hap and Leonard** (only seen the first series); and **The Last Kingdom** … all adaptations from book series I enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/163 "2018-01-17T19:04:17Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I’ve just started watching the TV series _Outlander_, on DVD, and at the “four disks into season 1” point I’m astonished at how perfectly they nailed the book. OOoh, I agree wholeheartedly with this - the series has been fantastic so far (minor nitpicks that Claire should have been rounder and Brianna not as tall or strapping as I pictured). I also agree with The Color Purple and To Kill a Mockingbird, both are beautiful and perfect. I will add “In the Heat of the Night” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/164 "2018-01-17T19:17:39Z")
I recently obtained and watched the entire series **Hornblower** (I’d previously only seen certain episodes). I’m not completely pleased with the way that did it, but overall it was a creditable and generally faithful adaptation. Speaking of things that ran on the A&E network, I have to add their **Nero Wolfe** adaptations, which were far more faithful to the books and the characters than previous attempts have been. (I’ve heard that the one pilot made with Thayer David was good, but I’ve never seen it). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/165 "2018-01-17T19:26:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I recently obtained and watched the entire series **Hornblower** (I’d previously only seen certain episodes). I’m not completely pleased with the way that did it, but overall it was a creditable and generally faithful adaptation. > Speaking of things that ran on the A&E network, I have to add their **Nero Wolfe** adaptations, which were far more faithful to the books and the characters than previous attempts have been. (I’ve heard that the one pilot made with Thayer David was good, but I’ve never seen it). Yes, both were very good. I just wished they’d have continued both. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/166 "2018-01-18T05:51:39Z")
Many people criticized **Alatriste** because the movie goes through the highlights of the main character’s life in a single movie; those people would rather have seen one movie per book. I think it did a good job of what it set out to do, and that the authorial decision to make a movie of the series rather than of each of the _nine_ books makes sense both from a financial and logistic point of view. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/167 "2018-01-23T19:13:30Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I love _The Langoliers_. It did a great job with the source material. It had its problems (some truly atrocious acting from Dean Stockwell and whoever played Dinah the little blind girl, and the bad CGI of the Langoliers themselves) but most of the main actors did a good job (particularly Mark Lindsay Chapman, David Morse, and Bronson Pinchot chewing the hell out of the scenery as the villain). I own the DVD and still watch it occasionally. I kind of liked the CGI of the Langoliers… they were very reminiscent of the visual effect of an ocular migraine. > [@](#): > > People with ocular migraines can have a variety of visual symptoms. > > You might see a small, enlarging blind spot (scotoma) in your central vision with bright, flashing or flickering lights (scintillations), or **wavy or zig-zag lines** surrounding the blind spot. The blind spot usually enlarges and may move across your field of vision. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760/168 "2018-01-23T19:16:53Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > People with ocular migraines can have a variety of visual symptoms. > > You might see a small, enlarging blind spot (scotoma) in your central vision with bright, flashing or flickering lights (scintillations), or wavy or zig-zag lines surrounding the blind spot. The blind spot usually enlarges and may move across your field of vision. I had one of those once, two or three years ago. Scared the crap out of me–I thought I was having a stroke or something, especially since I had a hard time concentrating while it was going on. Doctor said I was fine and I never had another one, thank goodness. Didn’t see any Langoliers, though. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-movie-adaptation-of-a-beloved-book-ever-lived-up-to-your-expectations/805760.md?page=8)