Books. Pretty much the best way to get to the bottom of an author's heart and to realize what they want us to see about their characters, while still having an imagination. Movies, while giving us a pre-formed image of the characters and their actions, leave no room for imagination, and often do not follow the format of what the author originally intended.
When books are transformed into a movie, there are many readers who groan internally, and many are so excited that they can't sit still for the next nine months until it hits theaters. Usually, the movie is better if you haven't read the book first, with some rare exceptions.
I, personally, always groan -- internally and externally.
1. "Lord of the Rings"
This is probably one of the most watched movie trilogies of all time, especially since they were fantasized about since they were in book form. There are many different opinions on this series, especially since there were multiple changes... like female characters.
Overall review: Book = awesome; Movie = awesome.
2. "The Hobbit"
Obviously, we can't talk about "Lord of the Rings" without discussing "The Hobbit." Over the few years that these movies were being produced, I heard some pretty nasty things and some pretty excited things about the movies. The reality of movies is that there have to be changes from the books, and these movies were pretty consistent with changes from the books. If you never read "The Hobbit," there were no complaints.
Overall review: Book = awesome; Movie = Pretty awesome.
3. "The Hunger Games"
Again, one of the biggest movies in the past few years, especially since they took the trend of "splicing" the third movie into two. However, this one I have to criticize a bit. The book to movie process went fairly well for someone who has read the book. However, many of the people that did not read the book had a hard time following the story line to understand why they were starting to fight people.
Overall review: Book: AHMAZING, Movies: Pretty good, if you knew what was going on.
4. "Divergent"
As long as we're going with popular movies, let's head into the "Divergent" series. The books follow a very detailed atmosphere of the time period and what is really going on around Tris, as well as her own life. However, the movies focus into more of a first person view of just what Tris would see with blinders on. Again, if the books were read after the movie was seen, I believe I would like the movies more. As it is, the book fans just have to accept the changes.
Overall review: Books: Fabulous; Movies: Fabulous, but frustrating.
5. "Harry Potter"
Let's just talk about this for a second. The movies are absolutely amazing, as well as the books. Easily the favorites of 90's kids and this whole generation. HOWEVER, there are some major changes that were made that were completely unnecessary to remove. Like, can we just discuss the fact that Peeves was never brought into the movies, but was one of the most entertainingly annoying people in the books? I understand the need for change. But some of the book to movie changes here were heartbreaking.
Overall review: Books: Ridiculously perfect; Movies: Also amazing, but left out some key players.
Basically, all movies and books are amazing, but it really depends on which way you take them in that determines your preference.
