posted
Here's one that's probably been covered before, but with the recent string of best and worst threads, I thought we could bring it back up.
The Postman: They stripped out the story and many of the characters, and made it into a weird pseudo-western film (I have to admit, though, that I liked the first half of this book better than the second).
Timeline: Some of the same problems; I think their biggest mistake was releasing it a few weeks before LOTR 3.
posted
Super Mario Brothers: They just... killed the games. Calling Bowser Koopa, Peach Daisy, the mushrooms were just odd...
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The book is a prequel to "Jane Eyre" that explores racial and cultural issues, and exposes the "mad woman in the attic" as a prisoner of racism both literally and figuratively.
The movie is a sex romp that makes virtually no attempt to deal with the cultural issues that overhelm the characters. The characters are just oversexed and the woman is just a crazy voodoo slut.
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posted
I'll go with Starship Troopers and The Firm. I was so mad when I finally saw the Firm that I nearly THREW something at my TV.
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I think we are quickly establishing a general consensus on this one, so maybe we need to be discussing the second worst movie adaptation.
-o-
I don't think this is the worst or second worst, but Ordinary People won all sorts of academy awards, including Best Picture, I believe. But I, having read the book first and been blown away by it, was rather unimpressed with the movie. So it's more like a combination topic: Most Overrated Movie Adaptation.
By the same token, I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before I saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the Gene Wilder movie absolutely failed with me. Not the worst adaptation, but another one I think is overrated.
-o-
Heh. Here's one that almost rivals Starship Troopers: Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. Actually, it might just be worse . . .
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posted
Well, since someone mentioned Auel over in the embarrassing books thread, I'll just toss out Clan of the Cave Bear. I enjoyed the book well enough--though it certainly wasn't great--but the movie was just horrible.
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posted
Batman Forever was the one with Riddler and Two-Face, not Mr. Freeze. Still not a great movie, but not so completely awful.
The movie "Batman and Robin" does not exist. I want you to stop scaring the children with stories about this horrible film that is nothing more than a cruel hoax.
quote:Originally posted by James Tiberius Kirk: Timeline: Some of the same problems; I think their biggest mistake was releasing it a few weeks before LOTR 3.
I thought the biggest mistake was that it was written by Michael Crichton.
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posted
I agree with The Postman but I liked the movie anyway. You just have to think of them as different entities with a similar theme.
I hated the Left Behind movies. They left so much out of the book (even though I understand why) that it didn't make sense unless you had read the books.
The Relic is my hubby's suggestion. I am not familiar with the book or the movie but he says it is one of the worst movies he has ever seen. The book was creepy and gave him nightmares--good in his opinion.
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posted
Pretty much everything by Crichton that I've both seen the movie and read the book for.
I, Robot Starship Troopers (just had to be said again) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Any Harry Potter movie Frankenstein Superman 3 and onwards
Granted, these may not all be bad *movies* - they are just bad adaptations of the original. Of course, LXG was just terrible on all counts.
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posted
Way, way back, (okay, 1985) we went to see "King Solomon's Mines" with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone. My memories are obscured by time (thankfully), but I remember thinking at the time how badly done the movie was. Cheesy in the worst sense of the word.
Some movies would be better if you never read the book - before or after seeing the movie. (Starship Troopers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory [I've only seen the Gene Wilder version]) Some movies (King Solomon's Mines) it doesn't matter - it's horrible whether you read the book or not.
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(I actually did read the novelization of []iSuperman III,[/i] before seeing the movie, come to think of it, but I assumed it was written as a tie-in. FWIW, I really quite enjoyed the book--but as a comedy, not as a superhero story--and was terribly disappointed by how cheesy the movie was.)
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posted
I don't think so, but the IP itself came from comic books of course
I didn't think the thread was limited in that way, in which case, my post would have also been invalid Posts: 459 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Stephen King's "IT" made for TV miniseries without a doubt.
I really enjoyed the book but the miniseries was embarassingly awful.
The problem with Starship Troopers was that it was suposedly based on the novel by Robert Heinlein.
If they had said "Set in the world of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers" and changed all the character names that would have been fine. The characters had different personalities than they had in the book. One of them had a different sex than she had in the book. And the story didn't resemble the book at all.
But hey, they had the Bugs and a military government so I guess that's all it takes to give it the name Starship Troopers. Maybe Uncle Orson should have named his most famous book Starship Troopers as well.
quote:If they had said "Set in the world of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers" and changed all the character names that would have been fine. The characters had different personalities than they had in the book. One of them had a different sex than she had in the book. And the story didn't resemble the book at all.
I don't think that's it. Superficial character changes don't bother me. What bothered me about Starship Troopers was that it was an awful movie.
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quote: I hated the Left Behind movies. They left so much out of the book (even though I understand why) that it didn't make sense unless you had read the books.
This is quite possibly the least of my problems with the Left Behind movies. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:They left so much out of the book (even though I understand why) that it didn't make sense unless you had read the books.
I think 1984 suffered from the same problem. I had already read the book by the time I saw the movie, so I was able to enjoy the movie because I knew what was going on. But looking back on it, I don't think it would make any sense to someone who hasn't read the book. They skipped over too much of it.
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posted
The Left Behind movies could have been better if they'd left out even more of the books. Or rather, just kept the name and general premise.
Or no, never mind. The Left Behind movies could only have been better if they'd never been made. Ditto the books.
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posted
I've never read the "Left Behind" books, but I had a co-worker who liked them. What was bad about the books and/or movies?
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posted
The 1984 version of Dune was a horrible adaptation. It makes zero sense unless you've alread read the book.
And then there's the bizarre way that they changed the weirding way. I have no idea why they changed that.
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posted
I liked Super Mario Brothers. What a fun summer movie. I still watch it from time to time. And the DUNE movie was GREAT! Love that one.
Ok... mmmm... I have to agree that Starship Troopers was a horrible adaption. I've even listened to the director commentary... and while they sorta told the same story, they did it with the idea that the Humans were Nazis! Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
I thought Running Man was a decent enough movie. Not as good as the book, but okay in a Total Recall kind of way.
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Actually, pretty much all of the adaptations of Michael Crichton books. Except, perhaps, the first Jurassic Park movie.
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: The 1984 version of Dune was a horrible adaptation. It makes zero sense unless you've alread read the book.
And then there's the bizarre way that they changed the weirding way. I have no idea why they changed that.
quote: I thought Running Man was a decent enough movie. Not as good as the book, but okay in a Total Recall kind of way.
Oh I agree, I enjoyed the movie in the same way as Total Recall. But as an adaptation, it only took the basic idea of the Running Man "reality show" and nothing else from the book.
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posted
I liked the adaptation of Starship Troopers, it was a good movie in my opinion. Although I'm not much of a fan of Power Rangers, I enjoyed the first movie, the show went downhill from then on. As for the Super Mario one, I just have to give them the Double Deuce. I'll probably just buy the flick to burn it. Or better yet, rent it, burn it and pay for it. That way it will not corrupt the souls of its would-be watchers.
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I liked the Left Behind stuff- it wasn't the best writing- and it got pretty boring after a while if you read the entire series, but I'm into that kind of stuff.
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quote: posted August 20, 2005 08:23 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Super Mario Brothers: They just... killed the games. Calling Bowser Koopa, Peach Daisy, the mushrooms were just odd...
You clearly don't own any video games from the era the movies were made in. Nintendo had changed the names over times.
Bowser came in for either Super Mario 3 or Mario World.
Toadstool became Peach with N64. Most obnoxious decision made ever. Don't think she ever was Daisy. Before Toadstool there was Mario's other girlfriend.... Pauline. Yeah.... That was when DK was a bad guy.
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posted
I thought the Hairy Potter movies were kindda boring too. My brother fell asleep during the first and second and refused to watch the third. I think they could've done a better job at it. I know why JK Rowling didn't want someone like Spilberg doing her book on silver screen but COME ON! The movie would've been far more dynamic and appealing to the general audience.
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