Movie Adaptations

[sweet_sparrow]

A friend of mine recently watched the movie adaptation of Tomorrow, When the War Began and loved it.

Which brings me neatly to a topic that I thought might be a fun and interesting discussion: movie adaptations of books. Which ones have you seen? Do you refuse to acknowledge any as adaptations? Which ones did you love? What're your thoughts on what makes a good adaptation? Should books be adapted for the screen (be it big or small) in your eyes?

For me, I'd say that a good adaptation has to get across the same... soul of the book. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I've only dipped my toes into thinking about this, so I have as yet very little idea of how to best phrase it.

One of the first adaptations I ever saw was The Last Unicorn when I was about three or four. It remains one of my favourite films ever. I never knew until in my middle/late teens, though, that The Last Unicorn was based on a book. Or, if I did, it never registered all that well. It remains one of the best adaptations I've ever seen, and I couldn't rightly tell you why. Unless it's that it sticks so close to the original.

The latest book-to-movie adaptation I watched was Minoes, better known in English as Undercover Kitty, I think, for unknown reasons. (I would dearly love to hear what the people involved were thinking when that title was decided upon. It makes no sense whatsoever.) It was a very cute, fun movie that stuck quite close to the book as far as my memory can tell. The book has a little more background and depth to it, but not very much. I think I might recommend the movie over the book too, especially to non-Dutch people because... Well, let's say our writing style can come across as incredibly stilted and jarring in translation.)

Comments

[sweet_sparrow]

*laughs* Now I know what it feels like to have a response edited whilst you're writing a reply to it. It feels amusing. ^-^

They turned that into a book? Consider my interest piqued. ^-^ I shall have to investigate this. ^-^ Have you ever tried watching the original or do you hate it too much to try? It might be interesting to know it was the dubbing or the actual movie, but you're not me and might not feel similar. ^-^

[akk]

*ditto* now. :)

"The tenth Kingdom" by Kathryn Kramer Rusch. I can't vouch for the English original, since I grabbed a German translation,which is very funny & was a really positive surprise, only that I made the mistake of watching the movies afterwards (English original and German dub; I got the DVDs *sigh*) and was really disappointed.

[sweet_sparrow]

Awwww. I'm sad to hear it disappointed you in both versions. I was hoping it might've been the dub from how you said it, though I haven't encountered any really bad German dubs. (Disliking it because I can't get used to the voices doesn't count. I have that a little with The Last Unicorn. There are two Dutch dubs of that. I like the English voices because the original Dutch dub sought out people whose voices matched the original English and I grew up watching that dub, but the newer Dutch dub... Atrocious and abominations are nice ways to describe it. Dutch people can't voice act anymore.)

But if the movie disappointed you after reading the book first, that might bode really well for my enjoyment of encountering them the other way around, right? *trying to be positive* ^-^

[akk]

:) I think it's because the movies focused a lot on the silliness, whereas the book maintained a kind of balance between silliness and the underlying seriousness of the plot. 10 Kingdoms would probably have done better in half the time and fewer "the three stooges"-events. I still intend to try the series again, starting from the 2nd or the 3rd movie rather than the 1st, which is said to be the worst (and I just couldn't get past it).

Regarding voice dubs - ditto the German dubs. It's come to the point where there are original German movies and tv series with ABYSMAL German voices (as in: even a dub in an unknown language with subtitles is more bearable than the German original) and quality is still going downhill (and then people wonder why you watch Korean tv with subtitles via the net!)

[sweet_sparrow]

Mmmm... It could definitely have been shorter, yes.

Awww, I'm sad to hear that! I grew up with a lot of German dubs - Dutch channels only started broadcasting at 7am and I was up, awake and bouncy at 5ish - so it's awful to hear they've gone downhill so badly. (And that there's still a bottom to reach! O_O)

Sometimes it makes for hilarious situations, though, when it's the dubbing that makes something funny because it's so awful.

[akk]

Not all German dubs, but a lot of the commercial channels programs are gruesome to the ears. I guess it's the result of cheap-cheap-cheaper-di-cheap-cheap productions being en vogue.

Funny dubbing: yes. It's not as if it matters whether its intentional or unintentional fun. As long as we laugh. :)