Tuesday 22 February 2011

Top Ten Tuesday - Book to Movie Adaptations

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week is a different theme!

This is my first Top Ten Tuesday, and I'm excited. Mostly because I looooove lists, but also because I'm particularly fond of movies. So, here's my top ten best book to film adaptations:
1. Alice in Wonderland - the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton version, rather than the animated Disney film. I actually have to admit to thinking that the film is much much stronger than the book, and the costumes, sets etc are just mindblowing. Love it.
2. Scott Pilgrim vs the World - So unbelievably well cast, and amazing how they managed to condense 6 books into 113 minutes of AWESOME!
3. The Lord of the Rings Triology - These were the first films that I saw which were absolutely as good as the books, if not better in some places. Although, I do have to say that I'm not a huge fan of the amount that they just made up in the second film...
4. Watchmen - I saw this at an Imax cinema, and it was absolutely amazing. Just such an intense experience.
5. Breakfast at Tiffanys - Audrey Hepburn. Moon River. And that is all.
6. Stardust - The film and the book are very very different, but I actually loved them both. First time this has happened for me. Well done, Mr. Gaiman
7. The Railway Children - the 1970 version with Jenny Agutter as Bobby of course. The ending is just gorgeous.
8. Harry Potter 4,5,6, and 7 - The earlier ones were total crap, but the later ones (especially since Luna came into it!) much much better. As almost everyone else ever has mentioned, the adult cast are just unbelievable, and I am totally loving Evanna Lynch!!
9. The Phantom of the Opera- I was a big fan of the stage musical before I saw this, or read the book. But, having read the book, I'm now a massive fan, and although both Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson really really annoyed me, Gerard Butler made the film for me. Which is the way it should be.
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Atticus Finch was voted by the American Film Institute to be the greatest hero ever in 2003. And I have to agree. Every time I read the book, I notice something else about it, and fall a little bit more in love, and in the film, Atticus's closing speech gets me every time. Gregory Peck was a genius!

I just thought that I'd add onto the end of this the two films that I can thing of which are adaptations of two of my absolute favourite books of all time, that I really really disliked.
These are Little Women and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Despite both having really good casts, they failed to live up to the books so much that I can't even sit through the first without wanting to slap somebody, and the second one just makes me sad, for Douglas Adams, Martin Freeman, and anybody else involved, really.

So that's my ten, what are some of yours?


7 comments:

  1. Which Little Women movie version did you like best? I love the Winona Ryder one, but haven't seen the Katharine Hepburn one to compare. I also love Breakfast at Tiffany's--Audrey Hepburn is just delightful :)

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  2. Yay, someone else with Watchmen on their list!! Isn't it just incredible!?! :)

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  3. Watchmen is amazing, as is the amazing Audrey Hepburn. Both are big contributors to my day to day happiness!:-)

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  4. I want to know the same as Teacher/Learner - which Little Women were you watching? I have had the Katharine Hepburn one on my netflix list for AGES - I so want to see it! But maybe you didn't enjoy it? I thought the more modern one was quite sweet but nothing too super.

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  5. I haven't seen the Katharine Hepburn version, but I really want to. It's the Winona Ryder/Christian Bale version I intensely dislike. I really wanted to love it but I just couldn't!

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  6. I completely agree about TKAM....so amazing! I also have been seeing Stardust on many lists today and haven't read the book or seen the movie! I need to fix that soon. Great list!

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  7. This is a good blog. Keep up all the work. I too love blogging and expressing my opinions. Thanks

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