Movie/Show Adaptations

[Kuno]

So on a completely unrelated note, I just recently watched the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Yep. You read it right.

I ignored all the millions of warnings on the internet and decided that I needed to see it for own eyes and not go off "the opinions of others". Needless to say, I now have stage 2 cancer. But this, ladies and gentlemen, brings me to the main forum of discussion. We've all seen movies based off tv shows, comic books, and novels; some are good, and some are not.

So what are your favorite movie adaptations? And which ones just sucked? Or to kick it up a notch, which ones were so bad that you had to wash your eyes out afterwards?

*grabs popcorn*

 

[Elle Joyner]

I absolutely adore the Harry Potter movies, as well as Hunger Games. Stardust is easily one of my favorite movies (Though TBT I've never read the graphic novels, so I can't compare). Dean Koontz Odd Thomas was almost word for word in line with the books and it was exquisite (also one of Anton Yelchin's last roles). I also really enjoy Inkhart and I prefer the Sword of Truth series, to the books (Though I don't LOVE either one), and am definitely more a fan of Pride and Prejudice in the condensed movie form that the books (which I only got 28 chapters into before quitting).

As far as ones I wasn't such a fan of... anything by Koontz, apart from Odd Thomas was just awful - there's a reason he sued to have his name removed from most of the credits. Apart from A Walk to Remember, I'm also not a fan of the Nicholas Spark's movies in general, but I was particularly disappointed with their adaptation of Safe Haven, which was a MUCH better book.

 

[Greenie]

I just recently watched the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Yep. You read it right.

I ignored all the millions of warnings on the internet and decided that I needed to see it for own eyes and not go off "the opinions of others". Needless to say, I now have stage 2 cancer.

All I can say is... I'm sorry you didn't heed the warnings. Poor you.

DBZ Evolution was... terrible. The only thing that made the day I watched it any good was the pizza I made.

 

[Razilin]

Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy is how adaptions SHOULD be done.

The same applies to pretty much all MCU movies.

These franchises took the recognizable, core elements of the characters' motivation, backstory, and costume design to make them new, accessible, yet familiar to longtime fans. They took the tone and style of already-good storylines (usually the origin story or, in the Dark Knight Trilogy, the No Man's Land, Long Halloween, and Year One stories) and also made them accessible, yet recognizable. They gave us iconic scenes from those comics while giving them a different context (an example is Batman Begins, where Batman takes out the boot device that summons bats; its recognizably from Year One, yet how he got to that moment was very different from the comics, while being relevant to the movie's plot).

The Rurouni Kenshin live action trilogy is another great adaptation -- perhaps even more impressive than Dark Knight or MCU, simply because it concisely adapted 60+ episodes into 3 movies.

Again, it took the iconic and made it accessible.



Shitty adaptations? The Last Airbender, Assassin's Creed, Super Mario Bros., Daredevil, any DCEU movie....

They are trying to cram too much fanservice without being attentive to adapting the material in a concise, accessible, manner.

Adaptation doesn't mean copy frame for frame.

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

Yes yes yes, the Super Mario Bros. movie. With the alternate universe where dinosaurs evolved into humanoids and literally everything is suffering a severe fungal infection. And Toad's just a regular guy.

And not that the Dark Dungeons chick tract wasn't bad enough, but the movie pretty much replicated it frame-by-frame.

 

[Shiri]

Dragonball: Evolution ate my soul and I don't mean that in a good way. That was an hour and forty minutes that I should have been doing anything else. Anything else.

The cartoon adaptations of Redwall and Mattimeo were really good. They were loyal to the books while cutting out the parts that weren't necessary.

I adored the Odd Thomas movie. The bodachs were different than I imagined, but they were still pretty neat.

I hear a ton of people bellyache about the Star Trek reboot movies being bad, but I quite like them. At first I was annoyed about the Spock/Uhura pairing but when it was explained that this is an alternate reality it became fine. New reality means new rules. I can respect that.

I'm watching Black Butler with a friend and omg the first season is so bad as far as being loyal to the manga. And it screws up the canon for the third season, which strictly follows that manga. "Character X is dead. Oh, nevermind. He's alive now. Weeee!" But I do like the live action movie. It pulls the whole "a hundred years in the future" plot but eh, it still holds up alright. Better than Dragonball: Evolution. :D

And I second what Razilin said about the Rurouni Kenshin live action. I've still only seen the first one, but it was fantastic.

I'm so excited for the upcoming Blade of the Immortal and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure adaptations. :3

 

[Vars]

I prefer the Sword of Truth series, to the books (Though I don't LOVE either one),

But for real, maybe I should give the show another chance. I loved the series (the first 3-4 books anyway) but only watched the show for a few episodes. I had been looking forward to it for years, after news was released it was in production and Goodkind was working on the script too. I was excited. But then the show totally went off on its own thing, and I just really wanted a TV version of the books, not a loose adaptation, so I got really disappointed with the entire thing and stopped.

I guess this show was also the first time I'd been really into the source material, so was very sensitive of what was done with it. I just had pictured so many things in my head a certain way, and the TV show really fudged it all up for me. =[
[spoili]Semi-related: I named my Cat Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander![/spoili]
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As for my fave adaptations, I really love Watchmen. I was also invested in the source material, but I like how they adapted it to a movie. I have the ultimate director's cut and just, wow, love this movie. I can understand why fans of the comic hate it as it does change some things (how everyone is pretty much super-powered in the movie, for example. Not to mention the ending)... But I think the changes were acceptable, and frankly very well-done for adapting such a complex message to the medium of film. So, yeah, I love both.

Another adaptation I like is Golden Compass... Which literally everyone I've ever talked to says they hate in comparison to the books. I will admit I saw the movie first, so maybe that just ruined the whole thing, but personally, I think the movie's great. I think the first book in His Dark Materials is pretty good too. Although there were years between my seeing the movie and my reading the book, so I can't directly compare the two, they both seemed complimentary at the time.
HOWEVER, the book series fell apart quickly after the first book and I left the series thinking "Why the fuck do people praise this as awesome."
Every book by itself would be great, but as part of a series really truly sucked. I'm not sure I can really explain myself fully here but that is my opinion of it. I read the whole series, I bought the giant book that had all the books inside of it so I could read it all at once. I got through it all in a couple of weeks, and when it all finally ending I was like "That was stupid."
I am really sorry, HDM fans. Like, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the universe, the plot was... not great.

SO IN THAT VEIN, I really liked the Golden Compass movie. XP

Also, Game of Thrones! Again I saw the TV show first, then read the books. I'll just really cut it short, GRRM can get really verbose on things that ultimately don't matter and he also has a bajillion characters I don't care about. The TV show does an AMAZING job of trimming the fat and bringing everything together. Now, this means there's inconsistencies and you lose out on a few cool things... But personally I'm all for it.
I love what they did for adapting the books to TV but I'm not a huge fan of the show or books, if that makes sense.
Personally, I feel as though Game of Thrones could cut a few more characters and be fine!!

 

[Elle Joyner]

But for real, maybe I should give the show another chance. I loved the series (the first 3-4 books anyway) but only watched the show for a few episodes. I had been looking forward to it for years, after news was released it was in production and Goodkind was working on the script too. I was excited. But then the show totally went off on its own thing, and I just really wanted a TV version of the books, not a loose adaptation, so I got really disappointed with the entire thing and stopped.

I guess this show was also the first time I'd been really into the source material, so was very sensitive of what was done with it. I just had pictured so many things in my head a certain way, and the TV show really fudged it all up for me. =[
[spoili]Semi-related: I named my Cat Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander![/spoili]

XD I only watched the first few seasons, TBH. Never finished it - It's not my favorite either way but I just could NOT trudge through 13 twelve-hundred page books XD I refuse to spent that much time and energy on ONE series. The books were also a little too... graphic(?) for me as far as certain elements were concerned.

Zedd is the best, tho... legit.

 

[Vars]

XD I only watched the first few seasons, TBH. Never finished it - It's not my favorite either way but I just could NOT trudge through 13 twelve-hundred page books XD I refuse to spent that much time and energy on ONE series. The books were also a little too... graphic(?) for me as far as certain elements were concerned.

Zedd is the best, tho... legit.

For real, Goodkind can go ON AND ON when describing some things (same as G.R.R. Martin) and it does get really ridiculous at times. Generally I think the first 3 books are touted as the best ones. Quality kinda goes downhill from there, but I really liked some of the plots of the later books. I've only read the first 7. I just looked it up on wiki and damn, the dude is still writing them!! I really didn't think Richard and Kahlan could go on so many adventures.

It's been years since I read the books, but there was a sort of minor character, Chase (who incidentally I just found out was in the TV show) who I liked a lot. Wish they had done more with him in the books. Actually, just a book or two about him as the protagonist would be pretty sweet!

 

[Indabayou]

I really like A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix. I kind of prefer some of the actors from the movie over the show and cringe every time I see the cgi baby of doom, but I still prefer the show as a whole for its content. The author is very involved in its creation and made sure that things he wanted to include, like more VFD earlier on and all the Jewish references (<3), were present in the show. The utter artistry in the framing and Lemony's scenes also delight me to no end. I watched a review where the claim was made that this is more of a reboot rather than an adaptation, and I have to say that is a fair conclusion. The books still have my heart any day, but the show is very entertaining, and a must-see for the extra VFD content not given in the books.

 

[Minerva]

Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings.

Sure, there's stuff that's not in the book, and stuff that's been changed from the books, but what hasn't been changed (which is still quite a lot.) is quite good, and the films as a whole are well done movies of an epic scale.

 

[Turtle of Doom]

I absolute despised the Hunger Games novels, but the movies were not bad.

On the flips side: The Maze Runner trilogy was a great read, and the movies didn't even make any sense. I hated the movies, and couldn't watch them at all.

The Vampire Diaries show is one of my favorites (even if I get mad at it), I read the first book and couldn't be bothered enough to continue.

I think that GoT did a really good job adapting the books for the screen, it is, in my opinion, one of the best adaptations I've ever seen. (even though they had to deviate to prevent book spoilers in the last few seasons)

 

[Hana]

Lord of the Rings will always be the best thing to movie marathon with friends, hands down. My friend and I watched it in a two-night two-day run at her house (we did other things too and watched anime) and suffice to say I converted her to LoTR. 8) I also read the books and I love them both, but I try not to compare them too hard or to be pedantic about the differences between the original and the adaptation.

Hmm, I loved Narnia, though I haven't read the books yet. So I dunno what to say, but Prince Caspian was legit crush material. :^)

The Harry Potter series was a part of my childhood, and though I love The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire the most and found the last two movies to be a bit ehh, I still think it's a great adaptation of the book material. It has been a while since I last read the books, so I can't compare, but I love both.

@Elle Joyner Thank you for mentioning Stardust! I really really loved the movie and the book, fit my love for fantasy so much back then when I was around twelve or thirteen? I should read the book again. xD

 

[Greenie]

Also, Game of Thrones! Again I saw the TV show first, then read the books. I'll just really cut it short, GRRM can get really verbose on things that ultimately don't matter and he also has a bajillion characters I don't care about. The TV show does an AMAZING job of trimming the fat and bringing everything together. Now, this means there's inconsistencies and you lose out on a few cool things... But personally I'm all for it.
I love what they did for adapting the books to TV but I'm not a huge fan of the show or books, if that makes sense.
Personally, I feel as though Game of Thrones could cut a few more characters and be fine!!

I think that GoT did a really good job adapting the books for the screen, it is, in my opinion, one of the best adaptations I've ever seen. (even though they had to deviate to prevent book spoilers in the last few seasons)

Totally agree! And yeah... I haven't finished the series yet, but it still holds up. Granted Dorne was disappointing, but that was mainly because of the Hype I had heard; I still need to reach that part in the book. But reading the books after watching GoT actually made it even more enjoyable.

 

[Elliandra]

I once was looking up art for Kiki's Delivery service, and what did I find but a link to a live action make of it.
I watched about three minutes of it before turning it off. A great lesson was learned that day. Don't watch live action remakes of Studio Ghibli movies.

 

[SacredWarrior]

I love Mortal Kombat and I really liked the Resident Evil movies.

The original Spider-Man trilogy, the Fantastic Four movies (excluding the reboot), the Dark Knight trilogy, and some of the X-Men movies as well.

Precious is an amazing adaptation as well.

 

[Spoilers]

Unpopular opinion here, I liked the Dark Knight Trilogy as movies, but as Batman movies...I hate them, with every inch of my body. To be fair though I've been pissed off, about Batman ever since I was a kid. I'm tired of him being treated like garbage, just because; "Ooh it's Batman, the story has to be dark, and dark means he has to be tortured in some way!" Which is what ruins the movies as Batman films for me. I don't want, or care for, gritty, realistic Batman. I want super genius/super ninja Batman. I have a lot more to say on this, but it'll just turn into a rant, and I'm trying to avoid that.

As for an adaptation I liked I enjoyed the Harry Potter movies, because I saw the first movie, before I actually read the first book.

 

[Dipper]

Nothing beats Lord of the Rings. Great for family reunions.