Adaptations that Change Books Endings Ruin the Movie
Posted by Craig Kessler on July 1, 2009 at 2:30 am
I am a big fan of reading books, try to do some reading every day. I also like reading books that are going to be turned into movies. For some reason, it’s nice to end up seeing a movie and getting the full visual sense that you can’t always get from a book. Of course this backfires because the majority of adaptations from book sucks, for example the DaVinci’s Code. I refused to see that movie after loving the book.
Anyways, sometimes the movies seem to get it right, and things start to click. A lot of books are difficult to adapt but you would think that if a book is a hit, the director would like to keep things the same. For whatever reasons, maybe a book wouldn’t transpire as well, or the director has a big ego and wants things done his way, the movie ends up being a little different, and more often than not it’s the ending.
I hate when movies change the endings to books.
Sure they got away with it in The Watchmen, which as a fan of the graphic novel loved the movie adaptation. There I thought the slight ending change was ok because it was a more updated version and did not change the eventual full ending of the movie.
This was not the case in My Sister’s Keeper which I recently saw. The movie was a tearjerker and based around a very controversial topic and overall I thought the film was adapted well. Where they messed up was the ending.
They completely changed the entire ending to the book. I knew things were changed going into it, but did not know to the extent, and I’m pissed off they did it, as well as thousands of other fans. It ruins the integrity of the book when a director changes and do not see the benefit of the chosen ending over the one from the book. They messed up, and it sucks. Still was an enjoyable movie, and if you didn’t read the book it would not matter, but for those fans of reading books that end up being adapted to movies, it sucks when things change for the worse.
What do you think about directors changing the endings?
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I know what you mean about getting a visual for the characters you’ve thought of…but I certainly wasn’t picturing Tom Hanks as the main guy in Davinci Code. Ugh!
Directors need to keep the endings the way they are. I think stories have enough wiggle room that the director can put their signature on their work without changing the main idea or meaning. Otherwise, it’s not an adaptation of the book anymore, is it?
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@Nicole I agree Nicole, I understand how for movie purposes some aspects of the book needs to be changed, but to entirely change characters, stories, completely ruins the book. Might as well just title it something else.
I COMPLETELY agree!!!
Actually it really bothers me and more often than not kills my movie going experiences. I think it smacks of no talent egotistical arrogance when a director/screenwriter takes a well known story and warps it to what he beleives it should be. They go with these stories because they already have a following rather than taking a chance on an original piece, i consider them “film maker Whores”. As a history enthusiast I especialy despise this when Historical films are made and they change the story, characters, relationships, costumes, settings, to make it “work” …or make it “cooler”.. a certain amount of “fill in the blanks”
and adaption to modern sensability Is understandable.
But when they take something like The battle of thermopolae *sp.. and barf out “300″ or the works of homer and spew out something like troy …I just get disgusted. Or changing names sizes and anatomy of dinosaurs in the fossil record to make such nonesense as jurassic park, Since that film there are entire generation of children who aref filled with false facts that they eventually are embarrassed to find out are not true (my own nephews did this and were upset to find out the truth on a trip to the museum).
I am in the film business and hope to eventually make my own films one day.. and one of my dreams is to attempt to take events in history and portray them with as much accuracy as the facts will offer, i beleive there is a responsibility to teach accurate history and literature through films. If you cant stick to the truth then just create an original story,instead you become a peddler of lies to suit your own ego, and bank account. shame on these hacks.
I dislike it when they change the ending, but I hate it when they put a title over a movie where they have completely changed the entire story. Or remember what they did to the Relic? Butchered during the edit!!
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