# Which movies got it wrong the most **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483 "2008-09-27T18:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/101 "2008-09-30T16:49:58Z")
Even when I was 12, I understood that **The Secret of NIMH** fundamentally changed the message of **Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH**. And I sincerely hated the change. Yeah, lots of plot details are changed, but that’s not a big thing. Even changing Mrs. Frisby to Mrs. Brisbee, while kind of silly, is no big whoop. But changing the basis of the story from one where brains and reason and ethics and sacrifice save the day to one where a magic amulet does was … a colossal letdown. I know lots of people like the movie, and it’s probably pretty good, but I loved the book way too much to enjoy Bluth’s take on it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/102 "2008-09-30T16:50:24Z")
The movie _Naked Lunch_ did not even attempt to adapt the book _Naked Lunch_. Instead, it’s essentially a meta-movie about a guy trying to write a book called _Naked Lunch_. And as Bart Simpson noted, both book and movie have at least two things wrong with their title. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/103 "2008-09-30T18:57:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What – you didn’t like the Rouben Mamoulian/Fredric March version? That was a heckuva movie, and pretty faithful to the book. I’ll half give you that one, there were some minor changes. For example they made Hyde a bit more monstrous, and iirc didn’t they add Ivy from nowhere just to give it a random love angle? They also showed Jekyll transforming pretty early on. I think that was also the one where the cops broke in at the end and killed him, which is somewhat an odd way to end it. I suppose I have to say though, it’s exceedingly difficult to do they movie absolutely the same because you can’t really play it straight since everyone knows the original twist. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/104 "2008-10-10T21:22:13Z")
A new nominee: _How to Lose Friends and Alienate People_, book vs. movie. Now, I liked them both. But the book was a funny memoir–I don’t know how true, probably truer than _A Million Little Pieces_ (but what isn’t). The movie fictionalized everything from the protagonist (Toby, the author, in the book, was called Sidney in the movie) to Graydon Carter, to _Vanity Fair_ which was, of course, _Vanity Fair_ in the book but was something else in the movie. And in all this Thandie Newton played herself. But the main thing was, and I’m guessing I don’t need to do this but I will anyway, In the book, Graydon said Toby was in Room #1 and he (Graydon) was in Room #7, and eventually Toby might find the secret door into room #2. In the book,Toby didn’t. In the movie, Clayton says the same thing, but Sidney gets to Room #7, and gives it all up for love. Also, Toby’s friend and rival, who gets what Toby wants without effort while Toby’s expending lots of effort, is not in the movie at all, and I missed him. ---
**Author:** ![jehan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jehan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jehan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/105 "2008-10-10T22:45:40Z")
The recent version of “the Dark is Rising”. Yuk. Take a wonderful classic kids fantasy. Change the 11 year old English kid into a 15 year old American. Make his family dysfunctional. Remove any Arthurian references. Put in a missing twin who has been in a bubble for 15 years. 😕 Glad I didn’t pay for it- saw it on an airplane. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/106 "2008-10-10T22:52:13Z")
I’d say 300 is a contender, though you could claim its “source material” is the comic book, not the historical event. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/107 "2008-10-10T22:56:02Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I’d say 300 is a contender, though you could claim its “source material” is the comic book, not the historical event. I don’t know how you could look at 300 any other way than as an adaptation of the comic book. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/108 "2008-10-10T23:14:00Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I don’t know how you could look at 300 any other way than as an adaptation of the comic book. Its still real historical event, irregardless of how fantastical its portrail is. It also adds alot that wasn’t all in the comic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483.md?page=5)