I loved the series for Twilight; but making it into a movie I thought would be a GREAT idea.
I was wrong. I have many good reasons, but that doesn't mean that I dislike the books or the movies.
They did the baseball scene wrong. The people were COMPLETELY wrong, in that order of being on different teams.
They also did the valley scene wrong. It was supposed to be a wide valley, with flowers everywhere, and a lake/pond in the middle. But they just put it on the outskirts of the forest, and had barely any land to move around on. Also, they made it on a day they were going to SCHOOL. It's not supposed to be like that! They had a Sunday to themselves, and that's how it happened in the book, not in the movie. ):
I can't wait for New Moon to come out though. (:

Ahh, this is often a pet peeve for most readers, as honestly, the movie is never as good but unfortunately that is the way it is always going to be! There are quite a few movies though that really do a great job in telling the story and all!

Of course there are those that are just bad. I definitely agree on the Ella Enchanted, I was so disappointed! The same thing happened with Blood and Chocolate. It was a magnificent book but a horrid movie. They completely changed the story!! I mean the ending was the complete opposite as in the book!!! It seems as if they stole the title and name of the characters but that is as far as it went. I was very excited about that movie too, but I was completely let down.

I have to go with "Ella Enchanted" as well. I love that book and the movie completely ruined it. I was very disappointed in Cary Elwes. Really I don't like any book to movie conversion very much, or most likely, they're ok but not great. The only one I actually like is "The Princess Bride". In some ways the movie is better than the book, even though I love the book.

I have to go with Ella Enchanted as well. I went to go see it and was utterly disapointed I still rant about the horror of it to this day. It ruined book to movie conversions for me. I haven't seen The Golden Compass yet because I'm scared of how it turned out.

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series. The books weren't absolutely awful, but the movie... First off, it was a TV movie, so itty bitty budget, then the characters, some of whom were actually quite interesting, all came out flat and kind of lifeless. Particularly Deucalion, the main character (as far as I'm concerned).

Eragon >_< guuuuuuuuh...

I mean...the book wasn't that great either...but I could at least enjoy it. I couldn't sit through the first half hour of the movie it was so terrible >.< They completely screwed up the storyline in the movie and just....eerrrrrrrgh...it was terrible Dx

It isn't a movie but it's a mini-series, the sword of truth novels. i watched the first ep and stopped halfway thru. i have most of the eps and may get up the nerve to watch them but it won't be anytime soon.

books, books... i think queen of the damned took number one.

i liked the twilight movies more so than the books but it was painful to watch but so much less painful than it was to read them.

I can think of a few.

Ella Enchanted, I totally agree was murdered in cold blood. It made me cry just to watch the trailers.

I was rather disappointed with Where the Wild Things Are as well. I felt like it killed my memories of the book as a child.

Inkheart was an ok movie, but overall I think they could have done much much better with it.

I rather dislike a few of the Harry Potter movies as well.

As much as I love Sean Connery, I'd have to say the 1984 adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight called Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Terrible, terrible movie from what could have been an absolutely amazing addition to the sorely lacking medieval movie collection.

Of book to movie conversions that went wrong, there are many. My friends and I have discussed quite a few and the one that stands out is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Yes, they were decent movies for all those that liked them. There are however several very large holes and/or annoyances that just tend to ruin the experience.

I will admit that not everything written in those books could be translated to the video release, hence things like visiting Tom Bombadil and how long it actually took the hobbits to leave the shire I can understand. Other substitutions such as the elf Glorfindel being replaced at the river crossing by Arwen is less acceptable, especially since she steals a line from Frodo that is early on quite pivotal to the character. It is the line where Frodo states to the king of the Nazgul "If you want me, come and get me", or at least that is the gist of it. It is the start of the many changes that occur to Frodo through the journey.

Next, is Frodo and Sam being taken to Osgiliath by Faramir. This is totally wrong and corrupt. Faramir asks to see the ring on first encountering Frodo, and without impeding him, sends Frodo on his way. He even states "Poor Boromir, it was too much for him." For Faramir to take Frodo further away from his goal due to greed for the ring is just a total breach of character. Boromir represented those people that could be tempted by the rings power and Faramir was his foil.

But this is just the start of a rant I could make on the subject. There are many more small and large slights to the books in the trilogy.

A book that should NEVER be made into a movie, is King Dork by Frank Portman.
It is possible, yes. But there is NO way you could ever get the same feeling from a movie version as you get from the book. It's too funny to be put on screen.

The Golden Compass book to movie. I was so stoked to have it come out but just couldn't sit still while they tore it apart. It hurt so bad! I LOVE those books and since that I have never watched a book to movie again with any hope that they will succeed. Cause thats just wishful thinking.

Originally Posted by Le Phantastique

The same thing happened with Blood and Chocolate. It was a magnificent book but a horrid movie. They completely changed the story!! I mean the ending was the complete opposite as in the book!!! It seems as if they stole the title and name of the characters but that is as far as it went. I was very excited about that movie too, but I was completely let down.

Blood and Chocolate is also my pick for worst book to movie conversion. Not only was the story completely rewritten, but it was a crappy rewrite as well! What ticked me off the most was the fact that my favorite character became the villain in the movie when he was one of the good guys in the book! I usually enjoy filmmakers taking their own spin on bits and pieces of a book, but Blood and Chocolate was completely ruined by what they did to it.

Beastly, now I don't like judging things early but I was SO disapointed when I saw some of the trailer. First off the main character and his friends are 9th graders, in the movie they look like senors... second the witch is fat, wears black and has green dyed hair...in the movie she is skinny, wears green and wears too much eyeliner and has BLOND hair as seen here.... third in the book the beast has FUR, I have NO idea where in the world they got the idea that he looks like this!

I'm sorry about my rant, but yes I agree most movie adaptions aren't very good, the only one i've enjoyed so far that was nothing like the book was Howl's Moving Castle. XD I never saw Eragon since my friends ranted about it. XD

Originally Posted by Erailea

I think the worst book to movie I have seen is "Ella Enchanted". It was like they totally disregarded the book, made some super horrible movie and then stuck the title of "Ella Enchanted" on it. It hurt my heart. Ella Enchanted was the first book I had ever fallen deeply in love with.

That's really funny. I saw the title of this thread and though "Ella Enchanted." I read the book when it first came out and loved it. When I heard there was a movie coming out I was so excited. Then I watched it. The first time I watched the movie I couldn't pay attention to the movie because I kept seeing things they had changed. I ended up starting a list of everything they had completely changed.
The entire story line had been changed. After I finished my list (and five viewings for it) I watched the movie just for the movie and thought it was a ok movie by itself.

Originally Posted by Le Phantastique

Of course there are those that are just bad. I definitely agree on the Ella Enchanted, I was so disappointed! The same thing happened with Blood and Chocolate. It was a magnificent book but a horrid movie. They completely changed the story!! I mean the ending was the complete opposite as in the book!!! It seems as if they stole the title and name of the characters but that is as far as it went. I was very excited about that movie too, but I was completely let down.

I totally agree with this. The movie was terrible. I also dislike the Harry Potter movies for their deviation from the books. People who haven't read the book don't always understand what's going on (like my friends dad didn't.)

Very few movies can do a book justice, especially since everyone's idea of the book is different. But movie directors seem to have a special flair for mutilating the storylines.

I cant think of any others that havent already been listed here eragon and inkheart definently disapointed me the most... bad ~_~ i dont know i may just be too engulfed in reading that the movies just seem like a train wreck to me but i cant help but watch all the movies based off the books i read, i die a little inside every time i watch them and then vow to never watch that movie again....

its just hollywood out of ideas for movies and their motivation is Remakes, prequels, sequels, and conversions >.< were are the fresh ideas.... stop the madness!!!

Forest Gump

The book is a piece of crap. It's terrible just awful. Forest goes to space and becomes king of the pygmy's and an orangutan is his best friend. The book has none of the heart or endearing qualities of the movie

i realy cant STAND that they even CONSIDERED making a twilight movie!trust me i am a freak for the books but i dont like the idea of a movie! dont even get me started on the actors in the movie!i HATE HATE HATE kirsten stewert or whatever i kinda like robert pattinson but hey the boys got competition with taylor laughter.but the way i imagined the people in the book, it was waaaaaay different!

I would have to say its a four way tie for the worst conversion. In my opinion, the four worst conversions ever were:

1. Eragon. The book was amazing, but they changed it so much when they made the movie, it didn't seem to be the same story at all.

2. Hannibal. I love the Lecter series, but this one, above all else, was destroyed when they made the movie. They changed it so much, you didn't even realize who half of the characters were supposed to be, and the important characters from the book didn't even make it into the movie. (Such as the bad guys daughter and Lecter's guard).

3. The Vampire Lestat/The Queen of the Damned. First of all, NEVER under any circumstances, should a two hour movie try to take on the task of shoving two 400+ page stories together. What happens in this case is a scene where you show about 8 vampires in a room, all of them significant characters, none of them really explained. And of course, the way the Queen died was COMPLETELY wronged, and Anne Rice killed her that way for a REASON!

4. The Relic. One of my favorite books of all time, and the story was incredible. But when you take a great horror story and hack it up, twist significant details around and ruin the ending as utterly and completely as they did with this book, the story gets lost to a B-rate movie and the whole thing gets ruined.

Two that stick out in my mind were:

1. Clan of the Cave Bear -- sure the book spawned a series that was pretty much a bunch of smutty garbage, but the this book was inspired. In any case, the movie was completely unrecognizable from the book.

2. Who Killed Roger Rabbit. Yes, it was a book first, and I remember having read it, and later reading that it was going to be a movie, and was so excited. I will say the movie version was entertaining, but it was very disappointing from someone who enjoyed the little mystery novel so much. I mean, they didn't even kill off Roger. *pouts* Disney is guilty of doing this so often though. I understand it's hard to compress something into two hours, but some plot issues seem too important to miss.

Eragon: They changed way too much. They left out what felt like three quarters of the book, including lots of important pieces. They changed Arya's entire appearance! Left out important scenes and the final battle was all wrong.

Still, I couldn't help but go awe a little at Brom's death, it was wrong, but sweet ^^

I have to say first of all was "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". I've heard people say that there wasn't much discrepancy between the book and the movie, but I simply don't agree. First on the list of abominations was the Harry/Ginny romance. Then *SPOILER ALERT* the scene at the Burrow with the whole chase scene through the feild and the burning of the Burrow. The sudden and unexplained romance between Lupin and Tonks confused me. (I'm not a big fan of the pairing anyway, but this was just disappointing)

And, though it's been said before, Twilight was disappointing. Enough said. I wasn't that big a fan of the book to begin with, but the movie put me off the series entirely.

The worst movie conversion. Eragon, they cast a much older woman as the elf. shes not even hot.... and worse, they crushed most of the story into nothingness.

Lets face it, almost all movies based off of books are horrible.

Twilight and Eragon