Worst Adapted Movie You Have Seen?

[Wingnut]

At the same time though, it (The Lightning Theif) was completely an original story.

I wouldn't say that. It followed pretty much the same formula as Harry Potter:

Everyday normal kid finds out he's special.

He's 11/12 years old at the time.

Knows nothing about his roots.

Goes to a special school, where he can be protected.

Everyone knows him.

He has two sidekicks: a smart girl, and an oft-bumbling guy.

Has an annoying rival at school.

Disobeys school rules.

Is the headmaster's favorite.

Saves the world from disaster.

How is that "completely original?"

About the only difference in formula was that Harry Potter has to work to become a great and powerful wizard, and he has a lot of self-discovery along the way. He's not instantly there. Percy Jackson, as soon as he accepted that Poseidon was his father, was suddenly Superman, with a perfect knowledge of how to use his powers.

All that said, I am actually interested in reading the Lightning Thief series. I've always enjoyed Greek mythology, and, knowing that it's a blatant attempt to be the next Harry Potter makes it easy to set that aside a little. The movie, though, was just bad all over.

Oh, and a PG rating with teenage drug use? Where was the MPAA on that?

P.S. It's "thief," not "theif."

[Blackmarch]

I wouldn't say that. It followed pretty much the same formula as Harry Potter:

Everyday normal kid finds out he's special.

He's 11/12 years old at the time.

Knows nothing about his roots.

Goes to a special school, where he can be protected.

Everyone knows him.

He has two sidekicks: a smart girl, and an oft-bumbling guy.

Has an annoying rival at school.

Disobeys school rules.

Is the headmaster's favorite.

Saves the world from disaster.

How is that "completely original?"

P.S. It's "thief," not "theif."

sounds like a couple of fantasy stories i read back in elementary and middle school. So far about the only movie i've seen in the last few years that have the most original storylines is "Inception", and then somewhat less, "how to train your dragon".

[Backroads]

I thought the Percy Jackson movie was okay, but I highly recommend the books, Wingnut. They are BRILLIANT--and I'm a book snob. They made me wish I had taught a higher grade so I could have made kids write reports and insights into them.

[rameumptom]

The Third Harry Potter film Prisoner of Azkaban was awful, compared to the book or the first two movies. However, I think it was a matter of changing directors and Dumbledore in midstream that did it. The original Dumbledore as played by Richard Harris (great actor BTW), seemed competent and together. Gambon's hippy wizard seems out of control, unable to contain his emotions, and not the strong and competent Headmaster one initially finds at Hogwarts. I was saddened in the books when Dumbledore died. I cheered when Gambon's Dumbledore died.

Even JK Rowling noted, " In a 1999 interview, Rowling stated that she imagined Dumbledore "more as a John Gielgud type, you know, quite elderly and – and quite stately." (wikipedia). So her grand wizard was more stolid-like as a Richard Harris than as a hippy Gambon.

[Guest]

The BIGGEST adaptation let-down for me, so far is, The Last AirBender. I was super excited to go see it and I was super hating it when I got out of the theater... I LOVE the TV Series - my kids would spend an entire Saturday watching all the episodes, marathon-style.

[Blackmarch]

If you like harry potter and/or lightning thief i'd suggest to check out "the Dark is Rising" series (very excellent).

[Backroads]

If you like harry potter and/or lightning thief i'd suggest to check out "the Dark is Rising" series (very excellent).

Only a classic series! How many Newberrys did that woman snag from those books?!

Which brings to mind another lousy movie adaption...

[TL10]

I wouldn't say that. It followed pretty much the same formula as Harry Potter:

Everyday normal kid finds out he's special.

He's 11/12 years old at the time.

Knows nothing about his roots.

Goes to a special school, where he can be protected.

Everyone knows him.

He has two sidekicks: a smart girl, and an oft-bumbling guy.

Has an annoying rival at school.

Disobeys school rules.

Is the headmaster's favorite.

Saves the world from disaster.

How is that "completely original?"

About the only difference in formula was that Harry Potter has to work to become a great and powerful wizard, and he has a lot of self-discovery along the way. He's not instantly there. Percy Jackson, as soon as he accepted that Poseidon was his father, was suddenly Superman, with a perfect knowledge of how to use his powers.

All that said, I am actually interested in reading the Lightning Thief series. I've always enjoyed Greek mythology, and, knowing that it's a blatant attempt to be the next Harry Potter makes it easy to set that aside a little. The movie, though, was just bad all over.

Oh, and a PG rating with teenage drug use? Where was the MPAA on that?

P.S. It's "thief," not "theif."

[Guest]

The Third Harry Potter film Prisoner of Azkaban was awful, compared to the book or the first two movies. However, I think it was a matter of changing directors and Dumbledore in midstream that did it. The original Dumbledore as played by Richard Harris (great actor BTW), seemed competent and together. Gambon's hippy wizard seems out of control, unable to contain his emotions, and not the strong and competent Headmaster one initially finds at Hogwarts. I was saddened in the books when Dumbledore died. I cheered when Gambon's Dumbledore died.

Even JK Rowling noted, " In a 1999 interview, Rowling stated that she imagined Dumbledore "more as a John Gielgud type, you know, quite elderly and – and quite stately." (wikipedia). So her grand wizard was more stolid-like as a Richard Harris than as a hippy Gambon.

I loved Azkaban! Yes, I was hoping they'd snatch Sir Ian McLellan for the Dumbledore role, but the entire movie was still awesome. It's one of my favorite Harry Potter movies. My favorite scene is the confrontation at the Shrieking Shack... when you got Gary Oldman and David Thewlis playing off each other, it's just plain awesome. And I thought they pulled off a very long book into a very short movie expertly.

[scdoyle]

I can't wait for the Hunger Games movie to come out. Hopefully it will be true to the book.

I think the movie studios never intended to make any followups to The Lightning Thief. That's why they changed the movie so much. How can they possibly make a followup when Kronos is not even mentioned in The Lightning Thief?

[TL10]

I admit, I didn't like the new Dumbledore at all. However, even if Richard Harris was still alive, I could never envision him in that battle against Voldemort in Order of the Pheonix. However, I think Richard Harris would've been great in that Horcrux cave scene in Half-Blood Prince.

Another thing I didn't like was that they didn't have John Williams score the music for the film series after Prisoner of Azkaban. His music literally brought the magic to life in the movies. After he left, the music just seemed... dead. It didn't make the movies feel magical at all. Also related, I didn't like how they did the sound effects starting with Prisoner of Azkaban.

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW:

Lastly, and most notably of all, I don't like how they've strayed away from the book most of times, for example in Half Blood Prince, they didn't show all those (related) memories of Tom Riddle/Voldemort. I thought it would've been great if we could've seen that. Worse, I heard that for part two of Deathly Hallows, they've moved Snape's death scene from The Shrieking Shack to some glass building to make it 'romantic'. I understand that Snape had feelings towards Harry's mom, but I don't see how changing the location of his death makes the movie better. I think the death scene for Snape in the book was just fine as it is.

Oh well, that's Hollywood for ya.

[NeuroTypical]

I'm going to commit the unpardonable heresy of saying that I like the 1984 version of Dune!

Well, since we're coming out of the closet, so to speak, and admitting unpopular likes, then let me just say:

I enjoyed Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, I thought they did a moderately-ok The Golden Compass movie out of the first book!

I also think there's really nothing wrong with Pullman's work that isn't also wrong with the Harry Potter series.

LM

[TL10]

I think the movie studios never intended to make any followups to The Lightning Thief. That's why they changed the movie so much. How can they possibly make a followup when Kronos is not even mentioned in The Lightning Thief?

Actually, they are:

(From Wikipedia)

"Columbus has stated that the cast were chosen specifically with sequels in mind. "I think with Percy Jackson it was a matter of finding the right cast to fit into these roles, sort of the perfect cast for these roles, because hopefully, God willing, we will go on to do other Percy Jackson films and you want the cast to grow with their characters."

[Guest]

I'm a big fan of Drizzt. I still can't believe nobody has made a movie out of him. But that's probably a good thing, because they're probably gonna mess it up too.

For those who don't know Drizzt, I recommend the Dark Elf Trilogy. It's a good read... and then, of course the Crystal Shard and all the rest of that series.

[Blackmarch]

I'm a big fan of Drizzt. I still can't believe nobody has made a movie out of him. But that's probably a good thing, because they're probably gonna mess it up too.

For those who don't know Drizzt, I recommend the Dark Elf Trilogy. It's a good read... and then, of course the Crystal Shard and all the rest of that series.

Kudos ;D

Have you seen the comic redition?

For stuff i hope makes it to the big screen:

David brin's uplift series, Niven's Man Kzin wars ( altho i hope it doesn't get mangled like wing commander did.. that was probably my biggest disappointment in a conversion film)

Edited January 20, 2011 by Blackmarch

[Jenamarie]

Clan of the Cave Bear was HUGELY disappointing! Just absolutely abysmal as an adaptation. Even the author "disowned" it.

[Backroads]

Clan of the Cave Bear was HUGELY disappointing! Just absolutely abysmal as an adaptation. Even the author "disowned" it.

That became a movie?!

[Backroads]

How can they possible make Percy Jackson sequels without evening mentionin the prophecy?

[Wingnut]

How can they possible make Percy Jackson sequels without evening mentionin the prophecy?

Based on what was said earlier in this thread about not having talked about Kronos, and this post about a porphecy, I'll take a stab at it:

Zeus forbade the gods from seeing or communicating with their demi-god children because of a prophecy that the children would one day overthrow the Olympians, much the way Zeus overthrew Kronos, a Titan? That was alluded to in the film. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Greek mythology could figure that much out. It would be easy to expand it later.

[pam]

That became a movie?!

Yes Daryl Hannah starred in it and it was a horrible movie.

Edited January 20, 2011 by pam

[Jenamarie]

That became a movie?!

Back in the 80's it did, with Daryl Hannah as Ayla. It's fairly true to the story (up until they get to the Cave Bear Festival) but it's a very shallow representation of the book, is VERY poorly acted, and they had the Neanderthals speaking sign-language with sub-titles and a narrator throughout the whole movie, which makes all the conversations in the movie long on time and short on substance because the signing is so slow, and the narrator's voice is annoying.

[Guest]

Kudos ;D

Have you seen the comic redition?

For stuff i hope makes it to the big screen:

David brin's uplift series, Niven's Man Kzin wars ( altho i hope it doesn't get mangled like wing commander did.. that was probably my biggest disappointment in a conversion film)

Oh yeah. The comic was cool. It was a good way to actually visualize the Underdark and just even how Drizzt and his scimitars looked. Salvatore is great with world-building but sometimes my imagination falls short of what he's talking about. Like, I could never visualize a hook-horror.

That's really what's great about movie adaptation of books. Like, the Great Hall and even just the quidditch field was a little difficult for me to imagine. The Harry Potter movie was great at depicting both!

[Jenamarie]

Oh yeah. The comic was cool. It was a good way to actually visualize the Underdark and just even how Drizzt and his scimitars looked. Salvatore is great with world-building but sometimes my imagination falls short of what he's talking about. Like, I could never visualize a hook-horror.

That's really what's great about movie adaptation of books. Like, the Great Hall and even just the quidditch field was a little difficult for me to imagine. The Harry Potter movie was great at depicting both!

This is what has me hoping they eventually make a movie based on the Dragonriders of Pern books. I have such a hard time envisioning what a Hatching Ground looks like, or what kind of light glows put out. I'm sure they'd butcher the story some how, but at least a bit of the load would be taken off my imagination!

[Dravin]

I'm a big fan of Drizzt. I still can't believe nobody has made a movie out of him. But that's probably a good thing, because they're probably gonna mess it up too.

For those who don't know Drizzt, I recommend the Dark Elf Trilogy. It's a good read... and then, of course the Crystal Shard and all the rest of that series.

I just gotta say the thought of a bunch of nerdy guys (no, not all folks who like Drizzy are nerds but hang in there) in black/purple face with fake scimitars on each hip and stuffed black cats is vaguely terrifying.

Okay, now to the topic of the thread:

I know not all of these are masterpiece books (and there may be duplication):

Battlefield Earth, the adaptation was pretty bad.

Sum of All Fears, serious retcons involved for no reason that I can tell.

I Robot.

Edited January 20, 2011 by Dravin

[mnn727]

I'm a big fan of Drizzt. I still can't believe nobody has made a movie out of him. But that's probably a good thing, because they're probably gonna mess it up too.

For those who don't know Drizzt, I recommend the Dark Elf Trilogy. It's a good read... and then, of course the Crystal Shard and all the rest of that series.

That would be quite an undertaking, probably on the scale of The Lord of the Rings. Excellant books though.