Movies that are nothing like the book

[The_Lost_King]

So there are some movies out there that you see and they are nothing like the book. Some major Examples would be Eragon and The Lightning Thief. These movies are almost painful to watch for fans of the books. I am going to go into detail of why the movies are terrible so if you don't care about the specifics you can skip the upcoming text. It will also have many spoilers from the books.

Spoiler: Eragon

So I am going to start off with Eragon. Ok so I tried to watch this movie the other day and found so many flaws in the first 30 minutes. First of all Aria looks nothing like an elf she doesn't even have pointed ears! Plus Eragon didn't just decide to wake up one morning and say I'm going to go hunting and march up to a forest 3 feet away from his house. The spine is a pretty long walk from his house. There was a huge herd of deer not just one. Then when he comes to Carvahal Imperial soldiers are everywhere. Galbatorix is afraid of the spine because he lost half his army in there. There weren't troops in Carvahal until the second book. Plus they didn't even have Katrina who is the whole reason Roran joined the Varden in the second book. Roran and Eragon never sparred. the only weapon Eragon knew how to use was a bow. All that is just the first 30 minutes and there are even more faults. They didn't have Solembum! He was vital to the story. That was clear from the moment Solembum told Eragon about the Rock of Kuthian and the Menoa tree. Murtahg could not ake Eragon to the Varden and he didn't even want to go to the Varden and he was not HAPPY! and I think that Eragon killed the Ra'zac. He doesn't do that till the 3rd book and it is vital that they stay alive till then. Also what the fuck is witht the shade Shadow dragon? That would kill him in minutes. If it didn't kill him it would probably weaken him to the point in which he would be just as weak as Eragon who had been fighting for hours before Durza even showed up.

Spoiler: Lightning Thief

Now For the Lightning Thief. KRONOS WASN'T EVEN MENTIONED!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! Kronos was the main villian! Why just WHY!! Luke was merely an agent of Kronos, and how could they not show the fight with Ares? That is perfect for a hollywood film. Instead they opt to do some stupid flyimg battle, and what the fuck is with the pearls of whats her name? They were given those at the very end of their journey. They didn't fight a Hydra till the second book and their parents never talked to them in their heads and the Gods were only banned from communicating with their children in the new series. Percy never used the boots Luke(the blond kid who betray the camp's name is Luke right?) gave to them. They gave those to Grover. There are probably more but I haven't watched the movie in a while.

I dont't understand Why they did this. I am not shocked because I think they have a responsablilty to us I am shocked because they could have made more money by making the whole series. There were 5 in the Percy Jackson series and 4 in the Inheritance series. Those could have made a lot of money. I don't understand companies any more.

Captcha: fezes are cool. Oh my god a Doctor Who reference. Awesome.

 

[SckizoBoy]

The Bourne series is the first that comes to mind... though granted I haven't actually read the books, but I do know that the setting, the plot and a fair few of the characters are completely different. Hell I think the name 'Bourne' is the only thing that links them! -_-

le Comte de Monte Cristo, though not so much in the main story, but the bits and pieces that surround it. Often changed (the big one being Albert as Edmonde's son, which is just ridiculous) or missed altogether, but it's a fucking colossal book so it's rather difficult to adapt to a film particularly well. Gankutsuou on the other hand...

Can't think of much else for now...

 

[GM.Casper]

Starship Troopers

/thread?

 

[Esotera]

I Am Legend (fuck Will Smith). They had to go and produce an otherwise amazing film then completely ruin it with an out of place ending that doesn't make any sense.

 

[an annoyed writer]

The Bourne series is the first that comes to mind... though granted I haven't actually read the books, but I do know that the setting, the plot and a fair few of the characters are completely different. Hell I think the name 'Bourne' is the only thing that links them! -_-

I was just about to say this. Principle difference between us is that I have read the books. The only one that is kinda close is Bourne Identity, but the book splits off of the similar beats halfway through. The second book takes place mostly in China, and the third book in the Caribbean Islands and Russia. They only really share Russia as a setting, and even then the places featured in the motherland are drastically different in the books and films. I liked Robert Ludlum's exploration of Russian spy training in Ultimatum, where they train soldiers through method acting in a simulated environment that mimics the culture, customs, and style of the target country(they had this complex that housed 12 or 13 miniature representations of cities around the globe, like London, D.C., Paris, etc.). It was an interesting concept that unfortunately never saw the light of day in the series due to the films being detached somewhat from its Cold War fiction roots.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Adding more to Eragon- They pretty much butcher the Urgal apperance in the film and the final in the Dwarf caven was NOT an open space area as it was underground!

Err yeah I can only think of Eragon at the moment...

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

I actually remember almost nothing of the Eragon movie.

I think it traumatized me that much.

 

[shrekfan246]

inb4 Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter!

Though I could be misremembering these, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and the various Chronicles of Narnia films. Well, I suppose they're still something like the books... hrm... ah!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. That "drew inspiration" from a book. Though I never actually read the book in question so it may have been more faithful than I think, despite being a Pirates film... what a predicament.

 

[Pinkamena]

I Am Legend (fuck Will Smith). They had to go and produce an otherwise amazing film then completely ruin it with an out of place ending that doesn't make any sense.

You bastard, you ninja'd me!
But yeah. I Am Robot.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Queen of the Damned comes to mind instantly. They took that book and the one before it, The Vampire Lestat, and crammed it into one movie, and it was stupid. They cut out a sub plot that is really relevant to the end of the QoD and how the big baddie dies, and shoehorned in a love plot.

It was some of the stupid.

 

[Jack Rascal]

One that really comes to mind is the Beach. I read that book years ago and enjoyed it. Not really my cup of tea anymore, but I enjoyed it then. A friend of mine happened to have the film and I had bile in my mouth within the first few minutes. They simply changed too many things and on top of it, it was starred by Leonardo DiCaprio. I cannot give all the specifics, if any, as it was so many years ago that I read the books and watched the film but the film was only loosely related to the book. The name was the same on both, at least.

In most cases I don't like films from books. I do watch them, but hardly ever really enjoy them fully. I always remember what happened in the book and mumble at the screen when they do things wrong. But on that note, I'm sure Game of Thrones is great TV-series (not necessarily in the sense that it mimics the books), but I'm am not enjoying the series. Not at all. Too many people and piles of plots for my taste but it feels perfect for TV.

 

[Chased]

Choke is a mighty fine example of a poorly adapted book to film. The film failed to capture the book's dark sense of humor and the "mommy" flashbacks were handled poorly.

I'm also on board with the Eragon train. In all fairness though I do believe that film had a limited budget. Regardless, it was not well executed and the over all epic fantasy tone was lacking.

 

[Nouw]

Starship Troopers. No Power Armour. No Intelligent Spider-Bugs. Completely different Mobile Infantry. The list goes on and on. Having said that, it's still a great film.

 

[SckizoBoy]

But yeah. I Am Robot.

... I, Robot? (Unless that was a deliberate *sunglasses* moment, in which case... *slap* !! -_- )

Yeah, that's another one... the original book was a collection of short stories with no real overarching plot other than adherence or non-adherence to the three laws (and how the coding for the three laws gradually got eroded with successive generations of robots). The film, I don't think, doesn't directly adapt any of the short stories...

 

[Zantos]

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It's not that I hate it because it's different though. The book, radio series and TV series were different. Making it different is fine for me. The difference being so bloody bad is what annoyed me. Especially Zaphod's head. They were very specific about that across all other platforms.

 

[RedLister]

Fluke its about a dog who knew who he was in he's past life.

Its a book by a horror writer called James Herbert. Fluke was a much lighter hearted read compared to some of he's other stuff.

Rather odd the film was actually a childrens film loved it when i was a kid. Rumbo the dog was voiced by Samiel L Jackson i believe. Well it does use the plot from the book but anything with horror or nonkid friendly stuff was taken out of the film plot.

 

[GiantRaven]

I imagine it's probably easier to list the films that were like the book.

 

[The_Lost_King]

Adding more to Eragon- They pretty much butcher the Urgal apperance in the film and the final in the Dwarf caven was NOT an open space area as it was underground!

Err yeah I can only think of Eragon at the moment...

Well to be fair the mountain was huge so it would be pretty open. Saphira was able to fly out of range of the Urgal archers. Speaking of URgals they did butcher their appearance.

 

[The_Lost_King]

inb4 Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter!

Though I could be misremembering these, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and the various Chronicles of Narnia films. Well, I suppose they're still something like the books... hrm... ah!

Pirates of the Caribbean. Those are based on books.

Well I can understand the Lord of the Rings being different from the books. Atleast they only cut out unnecessary stuff unlike Eragon and the lightning thief.