14 Movie Adaptations That Outclassed The Books They Were Based On

“They took the idea of the book and made something with it. The book itself is terrible.”

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"God that book was disturbing — and not in the right way.

Every character was a complete and total dick, I didn't even really care if the shark got them. Also the cheating thing being presented so coyly was weird."

"I believe Steven Spielberg said that, while reading the book, he was actively rooting for the shark."

"It's this. Coppola made a brave editorial decision to not include the side story about the woman's massive vagina."

"Best answer every time this is asked. Throws his medal of honour and accidentally kill someone? Greased feces themed professional wrestler named 'The Human Shit'? WTF is this?"

"They took the idea of the book and made something with it. The book itself is terrible."

"It annoys me to think how much money the author of that absolutely terrible book made because of that movie."

"Absolutely, and it's so improved, and takes so little from the book, I assume the only reason it's 'based on' the book is legal issues/they liked the title."

"FR, I stopped after about 50 pages. Couldn't believe it was the same material. Skipped around a bit and was similarly confused. Looked up online discussions and saw it topping many of these lists. So disappointing. The movie is one of my favourites and the book just isn't even in the same stratosphere. All time great adaptation."

"I was an avid book reader as a kid and after seeing Roger Rabbit in the theatre, I HAD to go read the book. I wish I could go back and un-read that book now."

"This is the first one I think of for these kinds of questions. I saw the movie, loved it so much and then wanted to read the book but I felt like the movie just was more fun and the characters better and so was the pacing."

"Even King agrees that the movie ending was better than his story ending."

"I love the movie and recently read the book. I still prefer the movie, but the stories are largely different in a way that I would consider the comparison less relevant. They share a skeleton of a story, but the flesh put on the bones is completely different.

That being said, I think they picked the best parts of the book to make into a movie."

"Well, the books didn't have a soundtrack that slapped so hard it gave whiplash."

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.