Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?

The English Patient, actually. Book is excellent; movie is incredible.

The Bridges of Madison County. The movie was far better than the book, which had a great story but crappy writing.

Didn’t we just have this question?

The Godfather & Planet of the Apes.

@AstroChuck: Probably, I’ve been M.I.A. for a little while and haven’t really had a chance to catch up yet.

Sorry for the duplicate. But hey, at least I didn’t ask where everyone was from, right?

Books have always been better than the movies, in my opinion, and I can’t think of any exceptions right off hand. I’m not saying my following two choices were better than the books but I really liked them as movies even after reading the books.

To Kill A Mockingbird
The Hunt For Red October

Mos Def the Hunt For Red Oct

The painted Veil – luuuved the movie – bet the book is not so good

Mos Def was in The Hunt for Red October?!

:) well, Mos Def was in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which was mos def the WORST book adaptation i’ve ever seen…

@cirrina – Wasn’t it, though? I feel bad for him and for Martin Freeman as they’re both good actors. DNA would’ve had a fit over that mess.

I thought about it, and no, there’s no film adaptation of any book I’ve read that was better than the book, IMO. Not even To Kill A Mockingbird. That book and movie are even there for me. I was going to say In Cold Blood, but the book was more intense.

Atonement worked better for me on screen than in print.

Also, The Neverending Story. Love the movie. The book annoys me.

Hm… Now I’m going to lose sleep thinking about this. I know there must be at least a couple more.

Wizard of Oz

The Ten Comandments

I was right. I was thinking about this question too much to sleep. So here are some more:

Deliverance. I didn’t like the movie but I hated the book.

I haven’t seen The Last of the Mohicans, but it has to be better than the book. I was halfway through before I found it interesting. A lot of that crap had to have been taken out to make it fit into film format.

Requiem for a Dream. Things of that nature affect me more in visual media. The book bored me. I’m not even sure if I ever finished it.

A Series of Unfortunate Events. Stuffing three books into one movie made it good. Those books drive me nuts. They’re painfully episodic.

Persepolis. The book is amazing but the movie is perfect.

Rear Window. There’s just so much more to the film. Hitchcock pwns all. I may have also liked Psycho better as a film than as a book. I think I need to reread that one, though.

Brokeback Mountain. Annie Proulx’s writing style doesn’t work for me. Likewise, I prefer the Lord of the Rings movies to the books. Tolkien told fantastic stories but he told them in a way that makes me fall asleep. Alas.

Also, I like Clueless better than I like Emma. Does that count? :D

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Jurassic Park.

No way! Jurassic Park was a much better book!

Many actually. I’d even put “Lord of the Rings” in there. I never expected the movies to be that good, and exactly because Tolkien is quite descriptive and can spend pages just to create the atmosphere, the films can do it far easier, if done properly. And they were. Sure there were some minor sub-plot bits missing, but I think the beauty of the story is in its depth and background world, and the movies do that wonderfully.

@Jack79: I like the LOTR movies better than the books. I was just afraid to tell people that because people tend to get kind of defensive about the books.

I thought the books were incredibly boring and I couldn;t even make it through the second one.

The African Queen was a miracle of a movie. I just read the book – thin, short, and lacking the details that Hepburn and Bogart (and the screen writers) brought to the film

Ooh, I thought I was going to be crucified for saying LOTR. What a nice change, seeing people agree! :D

@steve6 and @AstroChuck – I view Jurassic Park as one of those rare cases where the book and the movie are both quite good in their own regard. The only thing that drags the book down, in my opinion, is that the action sequences often seemed tedious. The movie didn’t suffer from that, but it lacked (or reduced) some of the qualities that are specific to the book. Also, the events were often different in the two mediums. But they were both very good.

/crucifies @Jack79, @KatawaGrey, and @MacBean for saying Lord of the Rings

(I know I’ve said this before, but contrary to common ideas about LotR purists, it’s not the omissions that get me—it’s the changes.)

Forrest Gump—in the book Forrest is kinda a jerk, not the sweet loveable guy Hanks portrays in the movie.

While not quite a movie, Dexter (the TV show) is much better than the book.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the book was good but the movie was better.

Being There.

@MacBean: “Brokeback Mountain. Annie Proulx’s writing style doesn’t work for me.” I agree with every word. Because I didn’t see the movie, I read Proulx’s book of short stories. Very disappointing. (Do you like the weather we’re having? I had to be towed out of a drift this afternoon.)

@gailcalled, I agree about Proulx’s writing. That brings up another movie that was better than the book The Shipping News, I couldn’t wade my way through the book no matter how many times I tried.

@SuperMouse:I would strongly disagree about TSN. The Shipping News was a family favorite. (The kids still joke about fried bologna sandwiches and seal cheek pie.) The first 60 pages or so is hard work as Proulx establishes the different voices, but then I couldn’t put it down.. I loathed the movie. It is all fascinating, isn’t it?

@gailcalled, so if I get through the first 60 pages I might very well enjoy the rest? I might just have to give that a try.

@Supermouse:Possibly; I can only speak for my own experience. Let me know.

lord of the flies

There is going to be a book and movie called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”. I’m excited to see which one will be better.

@mrswho It already has a movie deal?

@aidje I heard that there was a bidding war going on right now.

Just saw Coraline. Great book, but I think the film actually topped it.

V for Vendetta. I haven’t finished the book yet, but so far I like the movie better.