There’s a prevailing theory around big-budget adaptations of beloved books. It goes something like this: how can a movie ever be better than the book it’s based on? Well, the answer is simple. A well-made movie is just better than a so-so book. Here are fifteen such examples.
The Princess Bride
The iconic fantasy tale of Westley chasing after his long-lost love is imminently quotable and easy to love. It’s also miles better than the messy, tangled book it’s based on. In fact, without the name to tip you off, it’d be hard to tell this lovable swashbuckling tale was related to the bizarre book that inspired it.
Forrest Gump
Did you know that in the original book version of Forrest Gump that the title character goes to space? Yeah, the book had a much looser grip on reality than the movie, and that’s saying something. Oh yeah, and Forrest’s companion in space is a chimp named Sue. No, really!
V for Vendetta
With no disrespect meant to Alan Moore, the film adaptation of V for Vendetta is a more imminent, urgent work than his graphic novel. Both are scathing indictments of fascism, but the movie version is so gripping and urgent in its delivery that it makes you really rethink your relationship with authority.
The Boys
Forgive us for tucking a TV show into a list primarily about movies. The Boys is an incendiary superhero parody on Amazon Prime Video that is loosely based on the Garth Ennis comic series of the same name. However, the show is much more thoughtfully constructed than the comic series. The comics, for their own part, were more concerned with shocking visuals and gross-out humor than long-form storytelling.
Casino Royale
Ian Fleming’s original Casino Royale might have introduced the world to James Bond, but it’s not exactly a page turner. Fleming’s blunt, concise style is almost too straightforward, depicting more brutal violence than stylish spycraft. The 2006 Bond film Casino Royale modernizes the story with an excellent performance from Daniel Craig.
The Shawshank Redemption
With no disrespect to Stephen King, the film version of The Shawshank Redemption is a more fleshed out and enjoyable version of the story than the original novella. The movie just has more room to breathe and tells a gripping story bolstered by some career-defining performances, especially from Morgan Freeman.
The Hunger Games
The movie adaptations of the Hunger Games novels don’t do anything terribly different from the books, but the story just works better in movie form. While the books offer a gripping narrative, the visuals of the movies simply bring the tale to life more vividly than the book’s somewhat straightforward and functional prose.
Bridgerton
It’s perhaps unsurprising to hear that Bridgerton is based on a book series. It’s also, perhaps, not a shock to hear that those books are stuffy, overlong, and downright boring. The show makes some important deviations from the source material that makes things, well, entertaining. Sorry, book enthusiasts.
Psycho
In the original book version of Psycho, the infamous shower sequence is relegated to one sentence. That’s it! One quick sentence is all Hitchcock needed to create the most iconic horror movie scene of the 20th century. Suffice it to say, the movie beats the pants off the book.
The Silence of the Lambs
Two words here: Anthony Hopkins. Look, I don’t care how good your prose is or how thoughtful your plotting is. Anthony Hopkins is such a dynamite actor that he can take anything to eleven. His role as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs is chilling, mesmerizing, and Academy Award Winning.
Blade Runner
Phillip K. Dick didn’t believe that Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner would be a worthwhile endeavor, even disparagingly calling it “Road Runner” before he saw test footage. His sneak peek at the movie changed his tune, though, and he realized that the movie had plumbed thematic depth his story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? had simply never touched. And, yes, Blade Runner is the better tale.
The Bourne Identity
The book and movie versions of The Bourne Identity don’t share many plot points in common. Both are centered around Jason Bourne, who is a super spy who loses his memory. That’s about the end of the similarities. And, believe it or not, the movie tells the better story with that juicy premise.
The Godfather
The original novel The Godfather wasn’t an opus. It wasn’t even particularly inspired. The original author, Mario Puzo, publicly stated that he wrote it quickly and made it pulpy, scandalous, and page-turning. He needed money to pay back some debts, so he needed a commercial win, not a critically acclaimed masterpiece. And, indeed, Puzo was quite capable of making those, but they took time and didn’t sell too well. Hilariously, Coppola’s film adaptation of the book would turn out to be his opus.
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Interview With the Vampire (Movie and TV)
Fans of Anne Rice are eating (drinking?) well these days, with a new TV adaptation of Interview With the Vampire absolutely tearing the doors off the once-tired vampire genre. What’s more, the excellent Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt film from the 90s was already there, being awesome. And, forgive me for saying so, but both the modern TV series and the 90s movies are just better stories than the original novels. Why? Well, being inside Lestat’s head and hearing all his incessant whining just doesn’t make for a good read.
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The Harry Potter Franchise
Let’s not mince words. JK Rowling has tripled down on verifiably false anti-trans propaganda in ways that many of her fans simply can’t ignore. This caused a critical reevaluation of her work in light of her corrosive worldview, and the once unpopular opinion that her books were derivative garbage was given more room to breathe.
And it’s true! The Harry Potter novels are trite, fence-sitting nonsense that fail to grapple with any of their thornier themes. The movies are better by merit of simply having not been written by Rowling, bolstered by genuinely great performances from stars like Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint.
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