What's your take on this one?

Most books are not copied to the screen exactly. I have heard it is because it is to expensive to make the movie as the book as the book is more exact and time specific and things like that. Did you watch the mini series "North and South " parts 1 and 2? Amazing story! But I started to read the book and in hearing about it....it was not totally as the book. The facts were the same, but the characters a bit different for instance... Orey (Patrick Swazye)...in the book he lost his arm in the war...but in the movie, he just got a leg injury that left him stiff legged. "Gone with the Wind"... i did read that book and Scarlett had a child by every husband she had! In this case.. I like the movie better than the book. Then there is Nights in Rodanthe. I read the book and was spell-bound. Couldn't wait to see the movie. I rented it and was bored to tears! It was horrible and hardly anything like the book. In the book the mother was telling her experience to her married daughter that had lost her husband. In the movie, she was telling her teenage daughter about it. But even the happenings and events in the movie were so stupid. THe feeling was not there at all. Another one was Time Travelers Wife. I love time travel stories so I was anxious to read this...and bought and paid FULL PRICE for the book! That was the first mistake! I literally had to WORK at keeping track of it all! THe dates, which one was first, which ones was after...was this "chapter" before last chapter or after it? They had the date and ages of the two people at the beginnign of each chapter, but it was literally a grab-bag as to time line. First I was reading they were in one month, then another month way down the road and athen back to before that first month. I literally had to work at keeping track of things. I always had to read things 2-3 times just to put it all in prospective! Then I saw the movie...stupid me for thinking the book was so bad! The movie was worse!!! NO dates and it all went so fast...however I will say.. if I hadn't read half the book first, I wouldn't have understood or "gotten" the movie as much as I did. I only read 1/2 the book. I was literally just to exhausted to continue! IT was to much work and no enjoyment! So I would have to say, if you read a book and love it...don't see the movie! If you see the movie and love it...don't read the book! Once a memory is slashed..you can't get it back again as it was before!

I have always enjoyed reading. One a book I am interested in becomes a movie I am anxious to see it. I know tha directors and screenwriters can't follow a book exactly but i am disappointed when a movie changes the storyline of the book entirely.

yup would like it to followt he story line in the book I have read books and the story line follows pretty good BBBBUT there is more in the book than on the screen

It is rare for me to have read the book before the movie comes out. But I do expect the movie to follow book's plot. I feel the same about history. If a film is suppose to be about a moment in history, then the plot Better follow what Really happened!

I have seen very good movies based on good books, but not always are they made following exactly the book script. There have been many Tarzans along the decades and each of them belongs to the moment the movie was made. I read the original Tarzan when I was grown up and discovered it was a racist and bigoted book. If I had read it while I was little, I wouldn`t have noticed that. And if I had been a reader of the time the book was written, perhaps I wouldn´t have minded that. As I see it, there are many variables to poder upon when comparing the book with the movie (or movies).

Hello celticeagle With the exception of almost any story / book written by Stephen King, I do not expect any movie to follow the storyline of the book. If I were to read a really good book and discover that a movie had been made from it, and I saw the movie and it actually followed the story line, I would be in shock.

If I read the book first I am usually always disappointed because it rarely is the same or rarely the way I pictured the scenes to happen.

oh i whole heartedly agree. if theres anything i hate is to want to see the movie really bad cause i think im going to see like things that was in the book and they just change it all or skip right over something really important to the plot

I am constantly disappointed with movies that are made from books. I am the same as you..if I write something...I would want the plot to be followed too. I think the only movie I have watched that was true to the book was The Road. I was actually pleasantly surprised by it.

Dear celtic, I agree with you. If I wrote a book, I would want the storyline to be followed in the movie. I would be disappointed if it wasn't. I wish there was enough time in movies to end them the same way as the book ends.

I hate when books are made into movies and some are totally different from the book! This is why I won't see a movie again that is made out of a book I have read! Caes in piont; Back in the day I saw a film version of the "Black Stallion" by Walter FArley. I was in shock and angry! How dare they hardly follow the book! I was a teenager when it came out and didn't realize they did this to books! Another example: I read "Message in the Bottle" and then saw the movie. I was not happy! The book didn't follow the book,every well! I ended up loving the movie and hating the book! So now can you see how frustrating this is for me! My neice Randi is the same way!

There are some huge differences between movies and books. Books that are made into movies, following along with just how the book goes, are usually long and borring, and make hardly any money. A book can go anywhere... a single chapter can be an act of the story, and it can go in completely different directions, or have no change from the beginning to the end, and it works great in a book, but not in a movie. Movies are all the same, it needs a 3 act structure, it needs minimal characters that all go through a transformation from the beginning to end, it needs constant shocks followed by cool down times, and it needs each piece to blow away the last piece. Books don't have these rules, and therefore, a book can be very different from the movie. The other part though, is that when you read, it's up to your own imagination, what happens. You visualize whats happening, nobody else. So, with a character, maybe one line they said, or one action they did, really told you who that character was, but the director saw it differently, and cut that line, or changed it around. You, and the director, are looking at completely different characters, and that makes a huge difference in a movie. They're just not the same, it's not something you can just switch and move around, easily. They have very different structures to it, and therefore, there will always be, a lot of differences.

Some books just cannot be filmed - the author doesn't have a special effects budget to think about or how long the audience has to sit in the dark for. A lot of recent adaptations veer from the original story. We recently picked up a copy of Chocolat on DVD and it does have some differences from the book but is still a good film They do keep the overall atmosphere and feel from the book even if some characters are different (the Mayor and the Priest). You can forgive a certain amount of deviation if there's still a good film at the end of it. The same with Sherlock, I normally wouldn't be too keen on an updating but gave it a go because Mark Gatiss was involved and he's done some fantastic original work so I thought he might do justice to the stories. In other cases Hollywood makes a complete pig's ear out of adapting something. I loved the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley but hated the TV version of it.

Hi there, there are certain book that would be very interesting to see made into a movie...But there are also some book that a little different outcome would also be interested in seeing a little variation...

So often it seems that the movie industry just buys the rights to the title, and who cares what the plot was in the book. I am also saddened when a book I love fails to be followed in a movie.

Some movies based on books might never have made it to screen if some artistic license wasn't taken in the screenwriting process..Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" was considered unfilmable until Computer Graphics evolved to the point where it eventually became possible.. And "John Carter"(of Mars!) currently would be the record holder for a Movie staying in "Development Hell"...the Movie was released in time for the CENTENARY of the original stories having been published..Think of that..around the time of the "Titanic" Disaster,people were reading those stories for the first time..

hi celticEagle I would be disappointed if the story line of a favorite novel was not followed. Stephen Kind did one better he helped direct and produce most of his books into movies. also he always played some brief walk on part too.I know I too if I were the author would want them to follow my book in the movie don't Hollywood mess it up. A good storyline in a novel should surely be able to put into the movie as is. I imagine a lot of people are disappointed when the directors make a lot of changes and sometimes its almost impossible to tell that is from the novel you loved. lol.I also loved the old vintage ones too with actors the likes of what we seldom see today. Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable, wow those were the days.

I always prefer reading thew book first because they change the movies up so much sometimes i don't eveb recognize it as a book i've read.

I too like vintage movies. I think they are way better then anything they come out with today. The storylines were way better back them & the actors were better actors too I feel. As for when they make a book into a movie I'd like to see that they stick as close to the original story as possible. I don't mind if they make a few changes, but if they stray to far from the book then I'd rather not waste my time seeing it.

Like the Harry Potter movie series, for some of the parts,the storyline deviate from what is in the book. I admit I read the 1st volume of it, but I lost my interest reading it, after they released that movie. Though I'm a Harry Potter fan. Sometimes they need to deviate the story to make it more "cinematic". I have no problem with that. But nowadays, I always check the web before buying a book or watching movie. If there are either versions of them, I would either watch or read the other, whichever comes first. Many are spoilers out there.