uHollywood

In the history of film making people have found inspiration from loads of different sources. But when writers decide to adapt books they tend to achieve VERY varied degrees of success! As a passionate reader and moviegoer I’m going to write about my favourite book-to-movie adaptations and why I think they live up to the expectations of the average literate moviegoer.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – The first thing someone who loved this novel would complain about is that they changed the ending. But if you get past that, it is a great film. Beautifully shot, marvellously acted and with gorgeous music, it really lives up to the potential of the book. However, there are parts of the novel I’d have loved to have seen on screen – the hilarious fantasy sequence about Pelagia for one. While it could have been truer to the book I thoroughly recommendit.

Dreamcatcher – An interesting phenomenon, a book-to-movie I liked betterthan the book! As any Stephen King fan knows, his books frequently suffer on screen. They are long, detailed and psychological, not great to accurately represent on film. But great adaptation by Lawrence Kasdan and William Goldman keeps the dialogue true to the feel of the book and the chills very much down the audience’s spine. Find the DVD, it is a fantastic movie.

The Princess Bride – Once again, the legendary William Goldman. This film is actually an adaptation of an adaptation. Goldman rewrote the original Florian novel without the boring bits! The film has all the best bits of the book, with a adorable sub-plot involving aTiny boy and his grandfather reading the book to him. Cary Elwes shines as Westley, every girl’s romantic fantasy, and brings an amazing character off the page. Watch it!

Stand By Me – There is a theme developing here, Stephen King again! Based on a novella called The Body, Stand by Me again takes all the trademark King dialogue and quality from the novella, coupled with a great soundtrack and wonderful acting. This is a widely loved movie, but as I saw it after years of loving the novella, there was an added satisfaction to seeing it so well done. Iadvocatethis film to any King fan, or any fan of coming-of-age films with superb acting and stars looking young and cute.

No-one’s saying it’s simple to adapt a book well for the screen, but watching these will restore anyone’s faith in an oft-criticised area of the movie market.