Celluloid (Booking Through Thursday)

From Booking Through Thursday:

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?
2. The worst?
3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference?

1. I can think of a few "best" - I thought "The Handmaid's Tale" was pretty good, even if there were significant changes to the story. It got the look and feel of the book right, and I love Aidan Quinn, so there you go. "Minority Report" was good, although I didn't read the novella until after I saw the movie. Of course, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, despite the fact that I never made it through even the first book. "Legally Blonde" was a much better movie than book. And the best adaptation ever: The BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice" - the Colin Firth version.

2. The worst? From what I've read spoiled on the internet, the upcoming "Dark is Rising" movie will be dreadful. Too many changes, and one of them is they changed the family from English to Americans! Dreadful. I love those books, and I don't think I can bear to see them destroyed like that.

3. Generally, I prefer whichever version I saw first. I try not to be too judgmental if I read the book first - I'm not usually a purist, with the above exception.