Best book to film adaptations?

PolarityMan

The recen version of childhoods end was good too.

Bygone_Tones

Jaws. I read the book a few months ago and it was a bit disappointing. Jurassic Park maybe too.

Generally speaking books are usually better than the films though, as the film adaptations usually skip loads of content. Just finished watership down which was very good, and better than the film. the BBC are remaking it next year apparently in 4 parts, might be worth looking out for.

Winny_Pooh

Jurassic Park
Watchmen - the casting is brilliant, more of doctor Manhattan would have been good though. 
Red Dragon
Casino Royale
The secret of NIHM
Coraline
The Descendents

Sporky

The Princess Bride.

earwighoney

To Kill a Mockingbird

stimpsonslostson

Muppet Christmas Carol

 Honourable mention to Shawshank Redemption.

axisus

stimpsonslostson said:

Muppet Christmas Carol

Terrible, soulless film. Can't agree there at all.

Nitefly

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

Bleak Boston small-time gangster stuff from George V Higgins, with Robert Mitchum as Coyle.

rossyamaha

Harry Potter. 

CHRISB50

Touching the Void is a pretty good adaptation. 

xSkarloey

ICBM said:

Fretwired said:

The Godfather, although that could be because the author helped write the screenplay. Both the book and film are great IMHO.

Same with 2001 - although in that case both were written in parallel so it possibly doesn't count as an adaptation. The film is better, if anything.

2001 the film is I think very good up until we cut to the Discovery heading towards Jupiter. 

Then it starts to lag and lacks some of the helpful illustration of what's going on and why. Nonetheless, it's a magnificent film. 

Arthur C Clarke as a writer  has this enviable gift of writing stories that entertain and grip, while at the same time conveying often complex scientific information in a clear way. He wears his learning very lightly indeed. 

I think overall I prefer the book because it doesn't lag as much. Taken as a whole, all four books work extremely well as both intelligent fiction and an extended fictional essay speculating on evolution, the possible nature of  ETs, and exploration of the  solar system.

I am not a scientist by training, but I think the highest praise as a layman I can give Clarke is that I don't ever really feel lost reading his work. He is a very understanding teacher and guide. 

The one film of a book of his I think could be another cinema great is Rendezvous with Rama. 

fretmeister

Hertz32 said:

Shout outs for both Star Wars and The Matrix for being better adaptations of the bible than the original book.

Star Wars was a western really.

But what about Hawk the Slayer?