I owned a shirt that read “the book was better than the movie”. Of course, I’m a librarian. And that quote is often true, but not always. The slogan is more about promoting readership than actually being anti-movie adaptation to a book. So here are three movies that are better than the book, in my opinion. The disclaimer is that, I don’t watch a lot of movies in general. There could be more, but these are three that I can confirm.
First, let’s go way back to Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire. I was a rabid Rice fan when I was in my teens, but I was more into the witches than the vampires. However, when blockbuster names and a screen adaptation that provides the haunting atmosphere and longing provide the ambience that I didn’t think was there in the book, we’ve got the first movie that was better than the book.
Netflix’s adaptation of Jenny Han’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was visually stunning, with music, color pops, and lively characters that felt like teenagehood. When I read the book way back when I just remember thinking- I couldn’t relate to the sisters drama that seemed primary to the romcom’s secondary status. But building up the romcom made it the delightful movie that it was which means that this is the second movie that was better than the book.
And last, and most recent, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I wanted to see it in theaters, alas, it didn’t happen and I watched it while donating platelets. I giggled, I cried, I was visually taken aback by a man in a spaceship just trying to save the world. That said, I was blown away by The Martian both the book and the movie, but there was something extra special about the casting and delivery of the movie of Project Hail Mary that makes it the third movie that was better than the book.
Do you agree or disagree? Do you others that fit the bill?
Readers Be Advised 