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Top 10: Best book to movie adaptations
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Dr. Grant: Dinosaur!!! Photo: Universal Pictures
Most readers have begun to dread seeing their favorite books made into movies. Often, those films lose the depth, the emotion, the sheer magnitude of storytelling that made the original novel or story so compelling. This trend has become even more prevalent in recent years as we see classic stories come to life in disappointing fashion. But sometimes, these movies aren't mistakes. There are a choice few that don't cheapen their literary origins, but rather add new layers of genius to already successful stories.
Here are the top 10 best book to movie adaptations:
10. Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, 2007: Jon Krakauer's original "biography" about the boy who ventured into and died in the Alaskan wilderness was more full of pomp and self-aggrandizment than a portrait of Henry VIII. Thankfully, Sean Penn's adaptation of this inherently intriguing story brought a rare level of truth and loyalty to the young man named Chris McCandless.
9. Kite Runner, directed by Marc Forster, 2007: Like The Godfather before it, Marc Forster's extremely emotional coming-of-age film about two young Afghan boys borrowed actual dialogue and narration from the novel (by Khaled Hosseini), proving that it could honor the original work while still constructing unqiue and appropriate imagery.
8. Dune, directed by John Harrison, 2000: This second cinematic adapation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece debuted as a made for TV mini-series. Yet the actors' performances coupled with a phenomenal, awe-inspiring soundtrack have ensured that this series will not be forgotten.
7. A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick, 1971: Although Roger Ebert called this movie an "ideological mess", Kubrick's presentation of a future gone morally bankrupt is poignant, disturbing, and sharply effective. It brings Anthony Burgess's novel within arm's length but still manages to confront the audience with the question that Burgess originally raised: is forced goodness better than chosen wickedness?
6. The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, 1994: Stephen King, the story's original creator, has claimed that this film is better than his story. It was nominated for 7 Academy Awards and is the most popular film on IMDB, holding the #1 spot out of 250 top favorites. It is a movie about friendship, loyalty, justice, and hope. Have you seriously not seen it yet?
5. Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg, 1993: Even now, over 15 years after the movie first came out, the "dinosaurs" in this movie still feel real to me. This movie is to my generation what the Star Wars saga was for my parents' - the story that made kids believe that anything was possible.
4. The Sweet Hereafter, directed by Atom Egoyan, 1997: This film takes a long, hard look at the ramifications that a tragic school bus accident has on a small, isolated Canadian mountain town. Despite the town's seeming simplicity, every person has a secret, especially 15-year-old singer Sarah Polley who realizes that life after the accident will never be the same.
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson, 2001, 2002, 2003: Okay - listing three movies on one ticket might be cheating, but this trilogy either stands together or it does not stand at all. Jackson's cinematic revival of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy series moved audiences with stunning scenes, memorable quotes, and highly pirated music. There are even yearly conventions in which fans dress as their favorite characters. If that's not a cinematic movement, I don't know what is.
2. The Silence of the Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme, 1991: This adaptaion of Thomas Harris's novel may not have put Anthony Hopkins on the map, but it introduced one of the most intelligent, terrifying, and thrilling villains ever put to celluloid: Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter. Would you like some Chianti with those fava beans?
1. Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, 1999: Chuck Palahniuk has emerged as an author of devastating brilliance and David Fincher helped turn Chuck P.'s debut novel into a cult classic. It follows a socially isolated, seemingly mediocre man turn his latent aggression into a quest for anarchy and freedom. There is not much that you can know about yourself if you've never been in a fight, says Tyler Durden. But don't worry; he can help you with that.
So there you have it, folks - the top 10 best book to movie adaptations. If you have any contenders that you'd like to add to this list, let me know by dropping a comment or an email. And read my other movie reviews for Examiner here.
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