Adaptations better than the originals

[Bob_McMillan]

I watched Kingsman: The Secret Service maybe thrice on the plane, and it was awesome. It has it's faults sure, but just like Age of Ultron, the action totally made it up for me.

Because of how good it was, the first thing I did when I got home was to buy a copy if the comic it was based on, Mark Millar's The Secret Service. And it was sooooo meh. The movie was quite literally better in every single way, which just makes me love the movie even more. I mean, something as simple as the name of the main character, Eggsy. Where the fuck did they even get that name? In the comic, his name is, wait for it... Gary.

Yup, Gary.

And for some reason, the movie, where special effects are a thousand times more expensive and difficult, had better action and gadgets than the comic book. I could go on and on, but basically the movie does everything so much better than the comic book they may as well not have credited Mark Millar.

 

[Eddie the head]

I hear the Godfather books where pretty bad, and the movies where good. That's the only thing that comes to mind, but I don't know I've never really read the books and I think I only saw part of the first movie. Hurray for hearsay!

 

[Queen Michael]

Bridget Jones's Diary was funnier as a movie than as a book. Gotta add, though, that they're so different it's hard to compare them.

And the Soul Eater anime is better than the manga. The colors improve it a lot.

Additionally, the Titanic movie was much more enjoyable than the original disaster was.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Additionally, the Titanic movie was much more enjoyable than the original disaster was.

Huh. You have a point there.

 

[ItouKaiji]

American Psycho the movie is superior to American Psycho the book. The movie gets across the exact same themes and concepts without having to repeat everything three or more times. The movie also thankfully refrains from having Batemen describe his boner as massive about five hundred times. The movie adapts the best scenes from the book while combining bunch of repetitive scenes into new scenes are that are effective.

The Godfather is better in movie form because Sony's penis isn't a secondary character in the movie and it cuts a long subplot about a chick with a loose vagina.There are lots of goofy things in the book that get cut or changed for the movie. The book isn't bad but it's no classic.

Jaws is a better movie than it is a book. The book is okay, but for the amount of time spent on the characters the development isn't great and there are a lot of side stories that don't really add anything and certainly don't make a movie about a man eating shark more interesting. The movie just trumps it by keeping a tight focus and being a masterpiece of suspense. It develops the characters that matter enough for you to understand and sympathize with them and the way the shark is dealt with in the end is much better in the movie.

 

[Evonisia]

Matilda the film is better than the book. Admittedly, I think that only because I think the film's ending is superior to the book's, as the film is surprisingly faithful otherwise.

 

[Bizzaro Stormy]

Forrest Gump the book is different enough from the movie that it's almost not the same story. With that said while the book is at best ok the movie is much better.

 

[Silvanus]

I'm not sure about "better", but I had greater enjoyment from the Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers films than I did the books.

Way too weirdly paced, full of bad elf-songs and hobbit-shanties, the lyrics recorded over multiple pages for no discernible purpose.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I hear the Godfather books where pretty bad, and the movies where good. That's the only thing that comes to mind, but I don't know I've never really read the books and I think I only saw part of the first movie. Hurray for hearsay!

The Godfather book isn't bad, it's just missing the genius of the movie, which also removes a bunch of pointless subplots.

 

[Recusant]

The movie adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring had no Tom Bombadil, which improved it enormously; but my big vote here is for the Shawshank Redemption. Unusually, the movie was better than the book, and unusually-even-for-that-rare-occurrence, the book was actually good.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Considering Batman is older than most of our grandparents, I'm going to be the one who points out Batman: The Animated Series. There are a ton of Batman adaptations but my favorite has been the Animated Series going into Justice League (which could easily be a continuation of the Batman AND Superman animated series). Anyway, what I love about BAS is how it handles the side characters and villains. Before Batman tAS, Mr. Freeze was a one-note gimmick character. Before Batman tAS, Harley Quinn didn't exist. The chemistry between Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill was so great in the Arkham games because of the decade+ they spent working on that cartoon series to boot.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Starship Troopers. I hated the book, and I found the movie fun and deceptively brilliant.

 

[SweetShark]

Starship Troopers. I hated the book, and I found the movie fun and deceptively brilliant.

And then make a sequel, and a 3rd part.
To be fair, the 3rd movie represent the feelings of the books quit nice. But because of this you will HATE the "heroes" in the movie...

 

[K12]

Game of thrones?

 

[Nazulu]

I haven't read the Shawshank Redemption book, but I've heard from many that the film actually does most of it better.

I prefer the 12 Angry Men remake from the 90's. I find the acting with Jack Lemmon and the rest faaarrrr superior.

I prefer the original Hunter X Hunter anime over the manga, because not only is the general execution in the show great (as well as the music adding so much to it all), but what they added in made it more interesting I reckon, including one of the shows best jokes.

And I hope Shinji and Fox don't crucify me for saying this, but I preferred the original Berserk anime over the manga. It's been awhile, but I remember there being so much more bits and pieces in the manga, some of it being lame or feeling unnecessary. Including, I actually preferred the fantasy elements being few and far between, or building up to it.

 

[Zontar]

Forrest Gump the book is different enough from the movie that it's almost not the same story. With that said while the book is at best ok the movie is much better.

Which is probably why the second book is a sequel to the movie and not the book, as is stated at the start of the novel.

OT: The mist. Mainly due to the ending, which is so much better from the original King even said he wishes he had thought of it (since it's a case of being more King-esk then what he wrote and it just works so well)

 

[Zontar]

Game of thrones?

>Implying either the book or show are good.
>Dives into a bunker and closes the hatch

 

[Casual Shinji]

And I hope Shinji and Fox don't crucify me for saying this, but I preferred the original Berserk anime over the manga. It's been awhile, but I remember there being so much more bits and pieces in the manga, some of it being lame or feeling unnecessary. Including, I actually preferred the fantasy elements being few and far between, or building up to it.

Hey, I only ever saw the first two episodes of the Berserk anime (long before I ever even tried the manga), and the reason I stopped watching was because I felt like I was looking at something that was 60% still frames. The art in the manga was just so good that I never felt compeled to go back to the anime. My true resentment is reserved for the recent movies.

 

[Ishigami]

I like the Ghost in the Shell animated movie way better than the original Manga by Masamune Shirow.
Oshii made substantial changes to the source material. First and foremost he changed the character of the protagonist Motoko Kusangai from an outgoing tomboy to a melancholic introvert. For such a character it makes way more sense to question their very existence.