March
07
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POLL: What are your favorite movie adaptations?
I admit it. I have The Wizard of Oz on the brain. It’s our school musical this year and I have been having a fantastic time helping an amazing crew of students, staff, and parents put it together since auditions.
Being part of the musical has been so much about the people involved. But rewatching the movie of The Wizard of Oz has made me think more about the book and the way it was translated to the screen.
It seems like children’s and YA lit are getting a lot of attention from Hollywood recently – there’s a long string of movie adaptations come out this year and a long list that have been released over the last couple of years.
While I have a thousand reasons for why this is so exciting (one recent one being the fantastic conversations I have had with a student who decided to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower because he loved the movie so much), I’m curious to hear about your favorite movie adaptations of children’s and YA titles. Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Happy Friday!
— Cindy
Nerdy Book Club 
To Kill A Mockingbird was adapted pretty well, I’d say.
This one gets my vote too. It was well done, right down to the casting.
The movie version of “Holes” wins for one million reasons.
I loved the adaptation of Holes!
Yes, HOLES!
I LOVE Holes. It is SO good.
I’m very fond of the way New Line has been adapting the Tolkien books.
Oh, I disagree so much. They have turned them into such junk I can’t watch them.
I really loved The Lord of the Rings movies. I am enjoying The Hobbit, but find them more fan fictiony. Fun though.
There are many movie adaptations that I LOVE! But sometimes the turn around is too quick for me. I wish Hollywood mad the authors would just let them be books for a while longer. True fans will wait. Some of my favorites: LOTR, hunger games, Harry p, Winn Dixie, Narnia, book thief, holes, perks,
I love the first Harry Potter. To see the magical world was amazing! I also found that I liked Breaking Dawn better as a movie, although the first time I saw it there were cries of outrage until I realized what was going on and then it was like…genius, because let’s face it in the book, the battle is very anticlimactic.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs!
I believe it is more juvenile than YA but Bridge to Terrabithia had an amazing film adaptation!
Bridge to Terabithia is a great movie.
There are som many wonderful books I wish they would make into movies instead of re-doing old ones. Old Yeller has to be on the list for great ones. More recently, I was thrilled that Flipped was going to be made. I was afraid it was going to be ruined when the director set it in the 50’s, and cast Anthony Edwards as the “handsome” father, but it ended up being true to the heart of the book. Sometimes all the book and movie have in common is the title. Hunger Games is great because the author is part of the script team.
I think that The Perks of Being a Wallflower was the best adaptation because the author wrote the screenplay. I also enjoyed The Hunger Games. I don’t have a problem with movie adaptations like many book fanatics because I understand that they are two completely different mediums. I do have a problem with a few choices made in movies, particularly the last Harry Potter as I didn’t think it was fitting with the conclusion of the series.
I loved Holes – both book and movie. The movie captures the aridity of the desert and some souls. Harry Potter movies can’t include every part of the original books but still are inventive, thrilling and just magical. I want to live there!
I tweeted this, but it bears a posting. I am a fan of all the Roald Dahl books (not necessarily Roald Dahl the man). His books transformed my childhood imagination. That said, the movie version of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY starring Gene Wilder is simply a masterpiece and actually improves upon that book, in my opinion.
Don’t forget about Four Rooms!
The Outsiders is one of the best adaptations of the book.
That book and movie is one of the ones I most remember growing up, plus it was a great adaptation.
HANDS DOWN–To Kill a Mockingbird. I love the two versions equally. Great poll question!
VERY good pick! Which reminds me to also volunteer Great Expectations (the version with Alec Guinness)
I threw this question out to my 6th graders and Hunger Games and Diary of a Wimpy Kid were the popular choices.
I think the film version of FAHRENHEIT 451 was pretty good with Oscar Werner. I thought the adaptation of THE BOOK THIEF was very well done. More recently, ENDER’S GAME got a decent adaptation. My vote for the best goes to the Harry Potter movies and THE HUNGER GAMES.
THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET is one of my favorite books. The way the words and illustrations work together is magical. I was very pleased with the film adaptation, HUGO, which has a magic all its own. It captures the spirit of the book perfectly.
After watching “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” and loving it, I wished that all Brian Selznick books could have such awesome adaptations!
My tops: Stoker’s “Dracula,” Hooker’s “MASH…”, Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” (Blade Runner), Doyle’s “The Lost World” (technically a tv miniseries if you don’t count Crichton’s ripoff), Gibson’s “Johnny Mnemonic” (short story and, arguably, terrible movie, but that doesn’t change my vote), Salten’s “Bambi,” and almost all of Fleming’s Bond series. And I’ve heard that “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is an awesome adaptation, but refuse to watch it until I read it and haven’t read it yet, so . . .
Also, best movie based on a book that wasn’t written until 36 years later? “The Third Man” – based on a script idea that Greene sold to MGM, which strayed from his original, so in ’83 a friend reminded him and he wrote “The Tenth Man”.
One fav, that was better than the book, Like Water for Chocolate.
Book Thief, the movie adaptation, is wonderful. Of course, they do leave out a few parts, but overall, I thought it was well done.
A smart 6th grader just told me that her favorite movie adaptation was “My Louisiana Sky.” My own fave has to be “To Kill a Mockingbird,” though the Harry Potter movies are right behind. And I was glad to be reminded of “Hugo,” which was just lovely.
Not specifically YA, but appropriate for all ages: The British television adaptations of the “Jeeves and Wooster” novels by P. G. Wodehouse. (Youtube “Jeeves and Wooster” or look up the author on Project Gutenberg/Amazon.)
I agree. Stephen and Fry are awesome in those adaptations, and who I always picture in my head while reading the books.
Holes! The way Sachar developed separate characters, but in the end, shows how certain events impacted them all, is genius.
I’m also waiting to see how Gone Girl is going turn out in movie form.
I thought the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda was done quite well.
Enjoyed the Hunger Games. Excited to hear The Giver” is coming out this year, can’t wait to see if it even remotely resembles the book.
I liked Inkheart.
Wizard of Oz!
What an eclectic mix of choices! I love Holes. The movie really captures the essence of the book.
Somehow I failed to mention two awesome books that were made in to awesome movies that strayed significantly from the books (to the point where the authors publicly put down the films, at least for a few years in the latter case…): Norton Juster’s “The Phantom Tollbooth” and Peter S. Beagle’s “The Last Unicorn”!
I SO disagree that HOLES was a good movie adaptation. The book was fabulous, and the movie was poor on every level except possibly setting. I agree with you about THE WIZARD OF OZ, though – in my opinion it is one of the few movies that is actually BETTER than the book.