Hollywood loves adapting books into movies,
which only makes perfect sense.
There's already an existing fanbase, and an
outline for the script to follow.
Piece of cake, right?
Unfortunately, it doesn't always make for
good movies, as the strengths of one medium
don't always carry over into another.
While there are plenty of bad books that make
for bad movies, the real tragedy is when a
great book is adapted into a mockery of the
source material.
From grim and complex works that were turned
into braindead action flicks, to children's
books turned into sleazy comedies, here are
great books that were ruined by terrible movies.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Alan Moore is rightly considered one of the
best comic book writers of all time, and The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a perfect
example of why.
Following a group of some of the most famous
figures in literary history, the series is
a densely constructed work that belies its
obvious high concept.
Moore has frequently been outspoken about
his distaste for adaptations of his work in
general, but The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
is in a league of its own.
On the positive side, The League was directed
by Stephen Norrington a few years after he'd
helmed Blade, and it starred Sean Connery
as Allan Quartermain.
Unfortunately, that's about the last of its
positive qualities.
Connery cost so much that nearly everyone
else in the cast was a no-name actor, and
the script deviated significantly from the
comic.
Even worse was the addition of Tom Sawyer,
supposedly to excite American audiences.
But Americans were not excited to see the
film, nor was anyone else.
It was such a disaster that Connery retired
from acting, and Norrington announced his
decision to quit Hollywood.
Gulliver's Travels
In the realm of satire, Jonathan Swift is
an old-school, over-the-top master of genius
parody.
So when adapting his work, you should probably
select a lead actor whose subtlety feeling
is unrivaled.
Jack Black, despite his many positives, is
not that actor, and casting him in the lead
role of 2010's Gulliver's Travels is only
one of the many mistakes this movie makes.
The film retains almost none of the book's
clever writing and winking references, instead
relying on outlandish performances and easy
jokes.
Despite negative reviews, the worldwide box
office was actually decent.
Unfortunately, that probably now means that
Jack Black putting out a raging fire with
his urine is the only frame of reference many
people have for Swift's best work.
"Bring the beast down."
Valérian and Laureline
While there are plenty of poorly made adaptations
by filmmakers who couldn't care less about
the source material, passion projects can
turn out just as badly.
That's what happened with Luc Besson's Valerian
and the City of a Thousand Planets, an adaptation
of the long-running classic French sci-fi
comic Valérian and Laureline.
Besson had been a fan of the comic for years,
and its influence on his filmography is obvious.
But his Valerian adaptation stripped away
the comics' sly style and replaced it with
a sloppy, poorly paced rollercoaster ride.
While the visuals are beautiful, leads Dane
DeHaan and Cara Delevingne delivered wooden
performances that seemed more like auditions
than a final cut.
Critics were harsh, and the box office was
so underwhelming that it's unlikely we'll
ever get a sequel.
The Giver
The best adaptations understand that any changes
from the source material should be made for
the good of the new medium.
But the makers of 2014's The Giver may have
gone a little overboard when switching things
up.
The novel follows a 12-year-old boy named
Jonas who becomes the receptacle for all of
his society's repressed memories and emotions.
It's a slow burn that's heavy with symbolism
and a largely internal conflict with very
little action.
But the movie ages Jonas up to 16, gives him
a love interest, and sprints from plot point
to plot point with manic pacing.
The intent might have been to keep audiences
from getting bored by weighty conversations
and internal monologues, but the end result
is a movie that looks identical to all the
other dystopian young-adult franchises.
"We need sameness, don't you think?
Oh I completely agree.
But still, it's all so beautiful."
Eragon
Following a young farm boy who hatches a dragon
from an egg, Eragon was a massively popular
novel.
Fans thrilled to the detailed maps and complicated
relationships between various factions.
Unfortunately, anyone hoping for an adaptation
on the level of Peter Jackson's Lord of the
Rings trilogy was disappointed by the 2006
film version.
The movie had to condense a ludicrous amount
of plot to fit the running time.
Fans of the book were furious at what was
left out, while unknowing audiences were just
plain confused.
It was critically savaged and a box office
disappointment, and what could have been the
start of a new fantasy franchise ended up
instead just a forgettable one-off.
The Cat in the Hat
There's arguably no greater children's author
than Dr. Seuss, whose books feature iconic
artwork and a uniquely playful vocabulary.
His work manages to be timeless because it
truly is for all ages.
Subtlety ought to be the name of the game
when adapting Dr. Seuss, but 2003's The Cat
in the Hat is anything but subtle.
Starring Mike Myers as the title troublemaker,
the humor is crude and vulgar, resembling
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas more than classic
children's literature.
He made a mess in the halls that's why they
sent him to a bed to catapult his ba- ba-
ba- BOY!"
The set design does mirror Seuss' style, but
what looks fun on paper becomes garish and
unsettling in live action.
The critical consensus was decidedly negative,
and all the disturbing innuendo still haunts viewers dreams.
