I’ve decided that I will try to stop comparing movies to the original books. Mostly influenced by Neil Gaiman’s comments on his blog. Latest, “A film isn’t a book.”

But it is true. Like Count of Monte Cristo (I read it for an hour this morning and I kept thinking of the last movie), I consider them two different stories. Same plot, similar characters, but two different takes. You just can’t fit all of Alexeandre Dumas’ (paid-by-word O.x) story into a feasible movie. Maybe it’s better as a mini-series…

Also the Harry Potter stories. I was sort of meh about the first book. But I liked the first movie. (I think I read all four books before seeing the movie. I’m not sure.) I found it great fun. I don’t remember how I felt about the other books the first time, but I’ve always enjoyed the movies the first time around. Although the Potter movies are pretty close to the books. So not much of a point there.

Maybe a better example would be V for Vendetta? *hides* Ignoring the Wachowski Brothers-esque elements, I thought it was a good story. It’s not the comic. It’s a different story. I guess liberties were taken to mold the story more to current events. But who’s to say we shouldn’t have that? The original graphic novel is still there, 100% and whole for anyone who wants to get the original story. In the meantime, there’s another idea out there that was based on that story. And after a while, another movie could be made, perhaps one that’s closer to the original story.

That’s another thing, the way people rail against movie adaptations, you’d think the movie was the end-all be-all of the story. But with Count of Monte Cristo you have so many movie versions. Take your pick, which one do you think is the best? Mickey likes the French version. So does Mum. But she still likes the Guy Pierce version. I’ve never seen the French one, so I can’t really say.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, what about movie adaptations that I didn’t like? The ones that come to mind are A Wrinkle in Time and The Face on the Milk Carton. *twitch* Poor made-for-tv excuses of book adaptations. If I forget the story they were originally based on … they’re still pretty bad. But I suppose they work, for the medium that they’re in (film).

Okay, all this post serves to prove is how bad of a writer I am. Blah.