When a successful book is turned into a movie, there are normally two schools of thought. There are those who didn’t read the book who think “Hey! That book looked interesting but now I can just watch it instead.” Then there are those like myself, the readers, who always read the book first and always end up disappointed. Now, its not that Hollywood makes horrible movies all the time, although these days good movies seem to be hard to come by. The real issue is that the movie never exceeds the books. In act, the movie rarely even does the book justice. There are a million different reasons each movie doesn't do its respective book justice but here are three main reasons that apply to all book to movie adaptations.

Detail

Detail is important. It makes the story. So, when you read a book and become engrossed in all of the details of the authors storytelling, that is what makes the book special and also what makes the story itself gripping. When a movie is condensed into 90-120 minutes, a lot of the details take a backseat and that immediately hurts the movie's chances of coming close to the book. Smaller characters who add to the overall story are often dropped. Story lines are made less intricate to accommodate for time. The smaller details may not change the larger story arc but they add so much more life to a story and that is definitely missed in movie adaptations.

Imagination

One of the best parts of reading a book is allowing your imagination to run wild with the help of the author's words. They set the scene up for you with their descriptions but you get to put it all together in your mind. When you compare the idea you had in your mind to what the movie ends up looking like, it can be a disappointment.

Comparison

The biggest reason that the movie will never compare to the book is because when you're watching the movie, you're comparing every scene to the book. Even if the movie is fantastic on it's own, it's hard to fully appreciate it when you're comparing each line, each character portrayal, each scene to the book.

This is not to say the movie versions of some books out there aren't wonderful in their own right, many are. It is simply that the book will always be a little better than the movie.