5 Worst Book to Movie Adaptations

Nothing pisses me off more than finding a great book butchered by a lousy movie adaptation. With each badly written script, wrongly cast actor and rushed editing job you can literally hear the sound of heartbreak from disappointed readers everywhere as filmmakers hack their favourite books to death. The worst is hearing moviegoers who have never read the book saying the movie is ‘awesome’. “No it is not. Shut your face! Read the book!” Here’s BaDoink’s 5 worst book to movie adaptations:

World War Z

I don’t care if Brad Pitt was in it, this movie blows. The only thing linking the book to the movie is it’s title. I suppose the filmmakers were cashing in on the current zombie craze by making this movie. But instead of sticking to the rich and awesome story in Max Brook’s book, they made this pile of shit. I was waiting for this movie for so long. And Marc Forster ruined it.

The Lovely Bones

Even Peter Jackson’s magic touch couldn’t save this movie. Somehow the adaptation of this touching book seemed to miss the mark and lose the gist of the book. Which is rather sad because the book was so interesting and different.

Da Vinci Code

Ok, so I read this book and really liked it. I know there were a lot of people who complained about the book but I don’t care. It was a gripping and easy to read (albeit mindless) novel. The movie however is a different story. Losing most of the plot to over-explaining, and I suppose if you glaze over important bits then you would need to over-explain so that the audience can catch up.

Stardust

Being a book from one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman, obviously my expectations of this movie were high, but from experience I learned to lower them, since I didn’t want to be disappointed when the movie failed to deliver. And rightly so, because the movie failed to capture the magic of this book by glazing over so many important scenes while giving bigger roles to characters that weren’t that important in the book. Bah.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I suppose the filmmakers tried to do Douglas Adam’s brilliantly funny, sci-fi book justice, but alas, it was not to be. For some reason even though Adams book is full of his characteristic wit and humor, the 2005 adaptation is full of non-characteristic slapstick humor.