If you’re anything like me, you’re a strong believer in the age-old saying, “the book was better.”
Usually, it’s true! As any book lover will tell you, their favourite stories have nuances, details, and important themes that movie adaptations often fail to cover. Some of today’s adaptations have gone so off-the-book that I’ve started to feel this sense of dread when I hear that a book I love is being turned into a movie.
But that’s not to say that there’s never been a good — or even great — adaptation of a book into a movie or TV show. In fact, some of my favourite films to watch are adaptations.
What sets these successful adaptations apart from the ones that make you cringe and turn the TV right off? For me, it’s usually one of a few things: its faithfulness to the original story, the interesting take it provides on a theme or character I wish the book had explored more, or even just its ability to produce the exact same vibes I felt when reading the book.
Honestly, the rating of a book-to-movie adaptation is an entirely personal thing. It depends on what you, the viewer, think are the most important details, themes, and energies that the movie should pick up on.
With that being said, the movies and shows listed here are just my personal favourite adaptations, or ones I’m really excited for in the future. I think they’re pretty good choices, though, so browse through this list for yourself and take a look if any of your favourite books made it. If you see something you haven’t watched, give it a try! You can’t judge an adaptation until you’ve given it a fair chance.
Okay, here they are. My favourite adaptations, in no particular order:
Little Women (2019):
This film will always make my list in any kind of movie-ranking system, but it’s especially interesting as an adaptation. It stays faithful to the themes of family, sisterhood, and growing up that I loved so much in the book, and the energy it creates is just so wonderful.
I also love the characterizations in this adaptation. In particular, I think the character of Jo is explored in a really cool way. Without giving too much of the plot away, the movie provides an interesting possible explanation for a choice Jo made in the book that was never explained, but that always fascinated me. The movie’s portrayal of Amy was also really interesting and made me see her in a different light.
All in all, this adaptation is the best of both worlds. It’s faithful to the book in all the ways that matter, and it also takes its own leaps and turns that enhance the story even further in completely original ways.
Pride and Prejudice (2005):
This is another one that’s at the top of any list for me. The Jane Austen novel this film is based on is one of my favourite books, so if you haven’t read that yet, go do that right now! Then, come back and watch this great movie adaptation.
Some critics will tell you that this movie isn’t as faithful as the 1995 TV show, and they’re probably right. But if you don’t have six hours on your hands to watch the show, this movie is a perfectly good alternative. While its nature as a movie means it doesn’t have time to include every single detail from the book, it stays faithful in terms of characterization, and the characters are the most interesting part of Austen’s novel.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001):
I actually didn’t realize this movie was a modern adaptation until after I saw it, but this movie is actually a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice! It’s also an adaptation in its own right, based on a 1996 novel, but I think the connection to Pride and Prejudice is what’s especially interesting about it.
Something I love about the genre of the modern retelling is that there’s two levels to it. You can watch the movie as just a modern movie and you’d still enjoy the plot and characters, but when you realize what it’s based on, you get a whole second level of interpretation to work with. The themes of judgment and misinterpretation play out really well and remain faithful to the message that the original book was making about the way we perceive other people.
On top of that, it’s just fun! The idea of characters based on Darcy and Elizabeth navigating their miscommunications in a modern setting plays out really well and keeps you laughing and/or crying the whole time.
Clueless (1995):
This is another one of my favourite modern Austen adaptations. It takes the story of Emma (which is a great book as well, so go read it if you haven’t!), and places it in Los Angeles in the ‘90s. Firstly, it perfectly captures the character of Emma, who’s named Cher in this version. The movie takes all of Emma’s distinctive traits, like her tendency to meddle with good intentions, and does really fun things with the character. Just like Bridget Jones, it takes a classic story and does something completely new with it, which is super cool to see.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (upcoming):
Okay, this one is technically not part of this category since it hasn’t come out yet, but I’ll give it an honourable mention because I’m really excited for it! As all Percy Jackson fans will tell you, the movie adaptations of the first two novels were awful and very far from book-accurate. However, the new show looks like it’s going to be much more faithful to the books, and the books’ author, Rick Riordan, is involved in production, so I’m very curious to see how it turns out.
So, that’s my list — all of my favourite movie adaptations. If I’m being honest, though, in all these cases, I still like the book better. What can I say? I’m an English major to my core.
But all of these movies still impacted me in some way: they changed my perspective on aspects of the story, they brought characters I love to life, and most of all, they were just fun to watch. So, if you’re not too busy with midterms this week, check one of them out, and decide for yourself if the movie is ever better than the book.