New question. Again found on LJ Writer’s Block.
How do you feel when an adapted film’s story deviates from the original material?
It depends.
I, personally, prefer the Lord of the Rings movies to the books. Now… please don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that I don’t like the books, I do, however they do have a lot of stuff in which isn’t strictly necessary to the plot. There are some excellent character and background stuff but it’s not needed when making a movie adaptation. Same with Harry Potter. Loads of great stuff in the books but it isn’t really needed for the movies.
It’s best in these situations to think of the movies and books as completely separate entities, which they are and remember the key word: adaptation.
They are not meant to be the books, word for word, page by page in movie form. That just wouldn’t work for a great many books.
However there are times when they don’t even try to keep the movie like the book and just take the concept and run with it. I get very annoyed then.
For example… I love the book “Yes Man” by Danny Wallace. It’s great. A very funny book about him as a person and how saying yes to situations changed what was going on in his life. Also if you’ve read “Are You Dave Gorman?” and “Join Me” the book makes even more sense.
However the movie Yes Man is completely different. It’s turned into a fictional story about a divorced guy and has a completely different message than the book. I, personally, didn’t like it.
Now… other people that watch Yes Man might like it as they might not have read the book and therefore have no idea about the source material. However for me Yes Man the movie just takes the basic concept within the book and does it’s own thing with it.
So film adaptations are complicated. As with all films it is about compromise and finding a balance between the source material and the story you are trying to tell. Finding the core of the source material and the characters then planning out the film accordingly. It’s very difficult and I take my hat off to those who can and do perform this job well.
SJ Simpson 
Sep 03, 2011 @ 15:08:31
I generally am against it. The same with remakes. Of course there is the exception to every rule.The new Oceans 11 movies were not necessary. Especially when the brought in the new ones 12 & 13.
On the Flip Side, the New “True Grit” is very good, It more realistic, The big thing for me is the ending, while sad, as it should be, is more realistic. (Hint, if you haven’t seen it yet, get the dvd,) I have seen the original 3:10 to Yuma, However, I haven’t seen the new version. So I can’t comment on that.
On the whole, I frown on remakes, or adaptions of tales all well told.
Ken Lawson