Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish is particularly fond of lists (as am I!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.
Today’s Topic: Top Ten Best/Worst Movie Adaptations (you could pick best or worst OR split it in half)
This was a tough one for me as I try to separate the book and movie as much as possible or the movie is really going to bother me and I just don’t need that extra aggravation in my life. So, today I am going to focus on the best movie adaptations to keep it positive! Here are my top 10 (in no particular order):
1. “The Silence of the Lambs” (based on the book by Thomas Harris)
2. “Fight Club” (based on the book by Chuck Palahnuik)
3. “To Kill a Mockingbird” (based on the book by Harper Lee)
4. “The Princess Bride” (based on the book by William Goldman)
5. “Shawshank Redemption”/”Stand By Me”/”Apt Pupil” (based on short stories from Stephen King’s Different Seasons)
6. “Jurassic Park” (based on the book by Michael Crichton)
7. “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (based on the book by Helen Fielding)
8. “Harry Potter” series (based on the books by J.K. Rowling)
9. “Lord of the Rings” series (based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkein)
10. “Charlotte’s Web (1973)” (based on the book by E.B. White)
Honorable Mention: “Coraline” (based on the book by Neil Gaiman)
Honorable Mention: “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)” (based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl)
What are your favorite (or least favorite) movie adaptations?
Since about 3 out of 10 movies are adapted from books, this list could be quite long. Here are my top three adaptations from books: “Lawrence of Arabia” (from T.E. Lawrence’s autobiography “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”), “Forrest Gump” (from Winston Groom’s novel of same name) and “Goodfellas” (from Nicholas Pileggi’s true crime book “Wiseguys”). Runners-up for me: “Godfather” (from Puzzo novel), “2001” (from Arthur C. Clark novel), and Field of Dreams (from W.P. Kinsella novel).
P.S. — Love your inclusion above of the three movies made from King’s four novellas in “Different Season.” Enjoyed the novellas when I read them, and the movies were excellent. In fact, novellas are the perfect length for adapting to a 2-hour feature film.
The Different Season book and movies are phenomenal. I find it so fascinating that in 1 collection, King can produce 4 stories worthy of the great movies.
I actually think that Perks of Being a Wallflower and How to Train a Dragon were both better movies than books. However, I don’t see a lot of movies so I can’t really create a top 10 for this. Thanks for sharing.
Perks- haven’t seen the movie, Dragon- haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but I will definitely read/see them both not 🙂
If you noticed a lot of my movies are actually older ones. I see a lot less movies now than I used to.
HaHa! I would recommend seeing Perks even if you don’t read it. I saw it twice and cried both times. LOVED it!
I’ve read Perks and I’ve only heard GREAT things about the movie. My students RAVED about it this last year 🙂
Oh Bridget Jones’s Diary, yes!! I forgot about that one. Wonderful book, FANTASTIC movie!
I originally had Fight Club on my list but it was getting way too long and something had to go! They did a great job adapting that one for the screen, I loved the changes they made and visually it was very impressive – and very memorable! More so than the book perhaps, even. 😉
My TTT
LOVED Bridget Jones’s Diary! Cracks me up 🙂
I actually thought of one more too! Making this list was so hard 🙂
FIght Club! Yes! I totally forgot about that one! Great list!
Thank you! Loved your list too 🙂
Fight Club! I was hoping someone would mention it. This is the only story I have equal love for in book and film form.
It was so great in both! Although I love the other 11 I mentioned (and thought of another one!) I can see how that would be THE one for you 🙂