"The Princess Bride" is a movie that I definitely enjoyed waaaaaaaaaaay more than the book. I felt the book dragged on in several places-- I had to MAKE myself finish it...

I enjoyed the movie " Message in a Bottle" better than the book.

Of course I'm married to a man that HATES to read & he just can't understand how I can read the book & then watch the movie. It really doesn't bother me because I know they are going to change things around. I just like to see if they do it any better or worse. Practical Magic was one of the first movies to come to mind as being better. I do love to see the special effects on movies like HP & LOTR.  As much as I love to read, I also love movies, so I'm not that picky about it.

The book trilogy, His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman is finally making its way to the big screen.  The first installment is called the Golden Compass, in which it will be starring Nicole Kidman and many more.    If you have not read the book you need to read it before the movie hits theaters this December.

I really enjoyed Golden Compass! That should be a great movie too.

Even though I love the Harry Potter movies and have imagined Hogwarts and all the creatures, it was amazing to see them brought to life so vividly. Either I have a really poor imagination, or they were doing a great job in making that movie.  I've seen a castle or two in England, but I never imagined Hogwarts as so big and animated. Of course there were parts I missed, and all of the characters didn't seem perfectly acted or cast. 

But for the most part I enjoy seeing another vision of the book.

Shana -- The movie Timeline was from 2003 Paul Walker starred.... here's the Amazon listing.

For me I don't know that any movie has ever out done the novel but I also LOVE to read the novelizations of movies that were never books to start. One of my favorite scenes from the original Spiderman is only in the novelization. Its always fun to see what didn't make it into the movie because of budget or is just the author having fun expanding the story. 

The answer is most definitely BOOKS!!

cami (psychoreader)

I pretty much always prefer the book but I have to say I was impressed with how well Holes (kids/YA book)was adapted to the big screen. Not anything that I could see was left out and it was a pretty complicated story to convert to screen. Really good movie and book. (=

The movie/book that comes to mind for me is Just like Heaven w Reese Witherspoon. I loved the movie but couldnt get into the book.  I also liked Practical Magic the movie better than the book.

Gone with the Wind movie I enjoyed more than the book..............more romantic visually seeing Rhett!!  (I remember my Dad not wanting my Mom to take me to see the movie back in the 1960s because it was obscene........:0)

I am probably in the minority here (I often am lol) but I loved the movie "Gone With The Wind" and just liked the book.  That said, I might have read the book when I was too young to appreciate it.     I also thought "The Green Mile" was a better movie than book.  

I usually assume the book will be better than the movie.   There are 3 cases where I thought the movies were better.

Evening --- in this case the movie wasn't a lot better, but with the performances of some of the best actresses in film today the book didn't have a chance.

Notes On A Scandal was also helped by the performances, but on it's on the movie holds up better than the book.

The third is Sophie's Choice.  That was the first time I liked the movie better and was shocked by my opinion.

I read more than I watch movies, but the two that came to mind for me have also been mentioned already. 

While I enjoyed reading Timeline, I thought the movie was better.  (Didn't hurt that Gerard Butler was also in it Shanna).  I also love The Princess Bride, but didn't get into the book at all. 

(My daughter wants me to add Phantom of the Opera, but I think it's because of Gerard Butler...not necessarily because she didn't like the book)

Going way back but Rosemary's Baby was a great creepy book and the movie was very, very similar to the book.

Heather D, what was diffrent about the book  Just Like Heaven  then the movie?

Hey,

I generally prefer the depth of the story in a novel but there are some exceptions. BLADE RUNNER was way better than DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP. Robert Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE wasn't better than the Chandler novel but is an excellent film about a private detective. Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS is better than the book but REBECCA, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, SABOTAGE and numerous other Hitchcock films aren't. For others see my website, I have a whole section on books to films as well as a retrospective on Hitchcock. I'm always adding to it. Currently working on the films of Cornell Woolrich who wrote the stories that REAR WINDOW and THE BRIDE WORE BLACK (and multitudes of others) were based on. And other writers as well. having said all of that, it's rare for the movie to be better than the book.

William

www.williamahearn.com

The Shining was a better movie than book.  Particularly the ending, the movie's was more plausible!

I have to agree with "Practical Magic"!! I saw the movie first then read the book and I liked the mvoie much better. Now u might think it WAS because I saw the movie first. But it wasn't. I saw Horse Whisperer 1st and still liked the book much better same with Silence of the Lambs. Great movie but FABULOUS book!!

I would have to say Blade Runner as well.  Wizard of OZ is a better movie, the book is way odd.  Children of Men was very different from book but movie better by a nose.

Better movie than book, imo:

_Dances With Wolves_

_What's Eating Gilbert Grape_. In the book, the mom was a whiner. In the movie, the actress made us understand why her boys treated her so well.

_The Color Purple_ ... movie must have been better than the book. Didn't like the book, so didn't see the movie.

LOTR, Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), American Psycho, Election...there are probably others.

The movie Fight Club was better then the book.

I  usually prefer the book to the movie. I have to agree with those above me who said the movie Practical Magic was better as a movie than it was as a book.

The only time I have liked a movie better than the book was with Under the Tuscan Sun. They were so vastly different from each other, it was hard to believe they were about the same thing.

White Oleander and Fried Green Tomatoes, I think I liked the books and movies about equally with those.

With everything else, the book is always better than the movie from what I have seen.

A library I worked for had one of its monthly displays the books that later became movies. 

To make things easier they didn't display books that were movies but the movie had a different title.  There was a list of some of the books the library owned that included these books.