Over at the All Things Girl blog Melissa asks the question: What are your thoughts on book-to-film translations in general? I know she was asking after coming home from seeing the latest Harry Potter installment, but I am curious about your thoughts.
What do you think of book to film translations in general? What is your favorite book-to-film translation? What is the worst you’ve seen? Do you think it encourages reading or discourages?
I love books but I also love movies. Most of the time, screenwriters do a decent job with adaptations, but the character development and nuances found in a book cannot be translated as well as it deserves. Still, though, I get excited when a book I love gets a chance to be on film, as it will introduce thousands of folks to characters that I think are worth knowing.
There are a couple of movies that come to mind when I think of done well. Of the classics, I think of both Gone with the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird. I saw both of these films before I ever read the books. Of course the books are much better, but I watch the movies anytime I can catch them.
The Harry Potter series on film began well, but I feel it began to go downhill about the time the 3rd film hit: there was just too much in the books that didn’t make it to the films from that point on, and I thought Goblet of Fire was horribly done.