# When is the Movie Ever Better than the Book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347 "2005-01-24T02:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/101 "2005-01-25T16:56:49Z")
> [@Stricker van Gogh](#): > > I believe the movies are better. > > I wouldn’t deny that there is a whole lot of good stuff in the books that doesn’t make it into the movies, hoards of quality that went missing in the adaptation, but I think your love of Middle Earth is making you favor the books, which reveal so much more of it. Hell, I’ll agree. Tolkien wasn’t writing a story, he was writing a travelogue. As someone who did read them and who is a fan of fantasy, they were boring as hell. I like the story, I like the world, but the telling of it was like he was shooting for boredmo. Sorry if that offends you. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/102 "2005-01-25T16:58:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The book, at least, has an unambiguous ending – one that, had it been adhered to as canon, would have made impossible the plots of all the sequels, film and book alike. It’s never impossible to make a sequel, regardless of how asinine it may be. From my recollection though, 2010 was fairly faithful (as far as plot continuation goes) to 2001, I can’t readily think of any signoficant discrepancies, but it’s also been years since I’ve read the books. Anyways, although I loved both the movie and book forms of 2001, I can’t stand the way the book ended. The movie was far better, having been left ambiguous. The alien re-creation of a hotel room based based on old TV shows? Please. And don’t even get me started on the “blue substance” (or whatever they called it). ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/103 "2005-01-25T17:44:22Z")
Oh, and in the spirit of the thread… Jurassic Park gets my vote. The movie was a pretty good exercise in “Eek! A monster is Chasing me!” cinema. The book, however, was kind of silly most of the time. Particularly the inventive ways people dealt with the dinosaurs that were just stupid. For example, “They’re carnivores, so that means they eat meat, but when they’re desperate they probably eat eggs so I’ll take these plastic eggs, inject them with poison, and roll them towards the raptors who are only fifteen feet away and not only will they eat them and die, but for some reason they just won’t notice me.” -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/104 "2005-01-25T18:03:23Z")
I’ll have to put my voice in with those who says _Lord of the Rings_ was better in movie form than book form. I love the books, and Tolkien was a genius in many ways. He created an entire world, logically consistent and with its own unmistakable character, like no-one has before or since. No-one probably will, either. I could ramble on and on about his tremendous achievement. But I didn’t really care about the characters until I saw them. I didn’t really _feel_ how important the quest was until I saw it in the eyes of Elrond and Aragorn. I didn’t cry over the pointless petty evil of Sauron until I saw how beautiful Hobbiton was. And Elijah Wood as Frodo… totally perfect. Yes, the movies had flaws. Aragorn falling off the cliff has been mentioned. Gimli being the comic relief along with Pippin. There are some other things that I wish they’d done differently, but no matter what they’re amazing pieces of cinema. They would never have been as good without Tolkien doing the groundwork, but they still surpassed him. That’s my opinion anyway. As a contribution of my own, I have to mention the Gary Sinise-John Malkovich version of _Of Mice And Men_. As good as the book was, I’m pretty sure that John Steinbeck, had he lived to see that movie, would have said something like “Oh! So _that_’s what I meant!”. I cry every time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/105 "2005-01-25T20:01:04Z")
Great thread. Before opening it, I thought I had a couple, but I was beaten by a mile. I was going to offer _The Shining_ and _Godfather_ as good examples. I agree with _Jaws_. Have to disagree with _The Exorcist_ though. I liked the movie, but I **loved** the book, although that might be because I was a young kid who somehow got hold of a copy before anyone was talking about it. Oh, and on a tangent…has anyone seen Mario Puzo (guy who wrote _The Godfather_)? Maybe time has been tough on him, but it is hard to imagine the book coming from him. Dude should get contacts. [http://mario-puzo.wikiverse.org/](http://mario-puzo.wikiverse.org/) ---
**Author:** ![klintypooh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@klintypooh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klintypooh)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/106 "2005-01-25T20:33:32Z")
Karma Sutra anybody? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/107 "2005-01-25T20:36:19Z")
**The Maltese Falcon**. One of the best films I’ve ever seen due to Bogart’s masterful portrayal of Sam Spade as the most rational man alive. The book – just another of Hammett’s hard-boiled detective stories, and by no means the best of them. (That would be “Red Harvest.”) –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![docandjean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7993a0/32.png) [@docandjean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/docandjean)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347/108 "2005-01-25T21:07:43Z")
**Contact.** The Jodie Foster movie was enjoyable. The Carl Sagan novel was crap. And this from a person who will read a cereal box. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-movie-ever-better-than-the-book/286347.md?page=5)