The Top 10 Book-based Movies

So I read a lot. Obviously. And I also hear this line (or say it) a lot: "Sure, it was good, but the book was better."

But the question remains. what were the best movies based on books? Well, to answer that, I rotted half my brain for 23 years in front of a TV (or at least, that's my excuse), and here is my top ten list of the greatest movies based on novels:

10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Love it or hate it, Harry Potter is one of the greatest storybook characters of the modern world.

The first film flashed onto the big screen around the same time as my little sister began to get into the books, and she turned to her big brother to read the books to her (I make funny voices when needed). When the first film came out on DVD, she was given it as a birthday gift, and I was still young enough to take an active interest (since I was reading number 4 to her at the time) to watch it with her and our parents.

I thought that it was a very loyal rendition of the novel itself, cut for time, of course, and some of the elements that wouldn't work on screen as well as in writing, but otherwise very loyal to the book. So, of course, it earns a spot on this count down, and might have gotten a higher spot if it hadn't been edited for time as much as it was, losing much of the pacing of the original J.K.R. work.


9. Jurassic Park. Although this book was amazing and went far beyond the scope of the film (READ IT! You will thank me!), I would still say that some of the best features are here, and this movie can also stand almost side by side with the novel on its own merit.


8. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This one is actually the brainchild of the author, but it still gets a low spot for some of the more dramatic alterations it has, such as the inconsistent (but absolutely wonderful) opening musical number.


7. Nosferatu. We all know about this one, the 1922 silent film that mirrors (in many ways) the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

I loved the film and I loved the novel, but like the last two movies on this countdown, it earns its place here on its own merits as an adaptation over a true reflection of the novel itself.

I am, however, bothered by the grotesqueness of the figure, which, while true to the book in part, cannot allow for his undeniable handsomeness at other times in the novel, following his feedings (another thing that changed). There were some other parts, of course, that I missed, but I know that sometimes audiences are more ready to read things than see them, so I will forgive this movie a lot. Besides, I'm a Texan by birth and won't forgive them the Texan's absence from the great classic film.


6. The Hobbit, the cartoon. Every kid of my generation saw this one on a children's network at some point, and those old enough to be inspired are some of the great game designers (or D&D nerds) of today. It was a fantastic book that I feel was wonderfully portrayed in this particular film.


5. Jaws. Ah, but this is an amazing book and an awesome film. But, like many, it was plagued by the times in which it was made. N betrayal, no affairs, all the human drama is shrunk down from half the book to the sum total of a pair of scenes, one with the sheriff and his kid (how many does he have, exactly? two or three?), and one of the thee guys singing on a boat. Other than that, though, the story is very good, and the only thing I noticed that was dramatically different was that no dolphins or shark experts died in the movie.

Still a great film, and earns this spot for how much it got right, and how well it made up for what it got wrong. Plus the great cameo for the author.


4. The Dark Night. You could say I'm cheating with this one, because this is an original concept, and not based on a book,, exactly, but the characters are the best I have ever seen for recreating the spirit of the original comic creation.

The portrayal of every single comic book character in this movie is spot on to their original characters. The joker is, in fact, the exact psychotic figure he is in the comic, who would willingly kill people without offering the bat chance to save them, something that hasn't been seen up until now. And batman is much more of a martial-artist and detective in this film than he ever was in movie flops like Batman and robin.

I feel a little bad picking out such a commonly top-tened movie for the number 4 slot on MINE, but it is a truly accurate representation of literary characters who have gotten royally boned by Hollywood in the past.


3. Congo. Another by the master of modernized monsters, Michael Crichton. In this case, I have to say that film version, while a bit campy, was in many ways less tedious and more straightforward than the novel.


2. The DaVinci Code. I thought the book was good, but a bit basic, repetitive, etc. However, everything that makes it "just another" novel makes it a great film. The sweeping visuals, the interesting to look at and hear about characters, and the exciting chases. I will have to give the creators of this one props, they did one of the most accurate adaptations I have ever seen. Bravo.


1. Spider Web Castle. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. I was very very lucky to catch this on a night of insomnia playing on TCM. But it still must earn the number one spot as the greatest adaptation for film I have ever seen, as well as the best castle built by US marines!

This is a Japanese film that is actually based on a Shakespearean play. Macbeth! I wouldn't call this cheating, since the film features samurai and emperors in place of the European motif, an thus took a masterful rewrite to accomplish.

If you get the chance, I would highly recommend this actually rather haunting rendition of a tale of horror, murder and insanity. Even if only for the army of attacking trees.


And there you have it.

I wish I could have added some of the others I have seen in the past, like a wonderful rendition of The Orient Express, a great version of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, and many others, but I just can't remember enough about the films to place them on this list.

Perhaps in time I'll make a second list that covers the topic more accurately, or I'll shrink it down. I also intend to make some top tens of novels.