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Book Review : First Or Watch The Movie First

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Read the book first or watch the movie first? This is a question I often ask myself when knowing a movie I am about to see is based out of a book. I usually choose based upon the opinions of my friends, many of whom swear “the book is always better than the movie”. (Kitto, 2011) Often times, I find their opinions are the opposite of mine. We all realize that when taking a book and turning it in into a movie it is impossible to include everything as there are many things that do not transfer well from book to movie. So what then is the key to take a book and make a good film adaptation? “A great adaptation…needs to capture the essence of the book; we want fidelity between the book and the film [but] if a filmmaker does a faithful adaptation to the book the people will say you lack imagination, but if you make a movie without perfect fidelity you run the risk of been chastised by the fans of the book”. (Kitto, 2011) Is the key to making a good film adaptation of a book editing and imagery? It is up to the director and the screenwriter to figure out what parts aren’t needed to tell the story. They also need to calculate what parts can be manipulated around to allow the film to flow in a more fluid way. They also have to find a way to take detailed descriptions in the book and make them come to life in the film. Without good editing and imagery you can still get a good film, it just won’t be a film that captures the essence of the book. Let’s look at some of the

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