Movie Talk

The other day I was reading GalleyCat and they mentioned five films were coming out soon [as in before the year ends] that were literary adaptations, and it had me thinking:  do I want to see any of them and, more importantly, do I like it when a book becomes a film.

Let me take the second one first.  My gut response would be of course I don't like the movie version, the book as the original and more comprehensive format is always better.  That said and to throw a spanner in the works, if I've never read the book, then the movie would be pretty good to me - right?  This happened with The Town.  Loved the movie and will think about reading the book [Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan], but I'm not sure I will.  However, what if I have read it, then what do I think?

The perfect answer to that would be found in Stieg Larsson Millennium trilogy, which I recently devoured, and then watched the Swedish adaption of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire.  I thought it was pretty good, really good.  It didn't follow every nuance found in the book, that would have been impossible and still be a watchable length of time.  The parts chosen to focus on were really very well done and the characters were well developed, and I'm personally waiting with baited breath to watch the final flick: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

That was one side of the issue, there is another.  The first book to film that came to mind when pondering these questions was Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell [book and movie].  I love that film and bought the book when I was older, because I was sure there would be even more meat to it.  However, I didn't enjoy the book, or at least don't remember liking it and I must not have because I didn't keep it to reread again - which is a habit of mine.

So, do I like it when a book becomes a film?

Sometimes.
 

The first question was easier to answer - yes, I'd like to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 by JK Rowling [11/19],  Tangled [based on the Grimm Brothers‘ fairy tale, Rapunzel.  11/24], The Tempest byWilliam Shakespeare [12/10], The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [12/10], and Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift‘s classic [12/22]. 
 
Some of these I'd like to see more than others, but I guess the issue of making a movie from a book doesn't bother me all that much - until it's done poorly, then I'm sure it will bug me to no end!