Movie adaptations of your favorite books are always a mix of exciting and worrisome. Will they cast the right person? Is your favorite plot point included? Is it going to hit all the major details?
However, sometimes movies just share a name, or take ideas from a book and change it, so it is almost unrecognizable. Unfortunately, it happens a lot more than you might expect.
Warning, some of the items in this list may contain spoilers.
22Howl’s Moving Castle
Howl’s Moving Castleis a Japanese animated movie byStudio Ghibliand Hayao Miyazaki, who is well known and loved in the Japanese movie industry. While the movie is loved and is a cute story that is fun to watch and ends with a powerful romance, it has to be said that it is very different from the book.
People who love the book and the movie have pointed out that there are six pretty significant changes between them. One of them is pretty obvious since it is the drastic difference between the looks and personality of the main girl, Sophie. Not only does she look different with ginger hair, but she is powerful, and somewhat angry, which we miss a lot of in the movie. There are also some other changes, like our main wizard not really being a big flirt, the doors in the castle leading to a whole different world, Howl being cursed, and how the love between the two main characters changes, or doesn’t change, them.
Both are good, and many people find that they can love both equally and separately, but there is no denying that the movie is pretty different from its source material.
21War of the Worlds
War of the Worldswas originally a book written in 1898 by H.G. Wells. Later it was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg. While the movie isn’t completely different from the book, it does take some pretty big liberties with the plot.
Two of the most noticeable changes are the time period and the purpose for the main character to continue doing what he did. While the book had the story set in the 19th century, the movie was changed to fit in more of the 2000s time period. Our main character also changes from someone that wants nothing more than to go home and see his wife again to a single, divorced dad trying to save his kids. But, hey, at least they got the aliens down somewhat accurately.
But trust us, if you struggle with classics, War of the Worlds isn’t for you. It’s much harder to read than most classics thanks to H.G. Wells' verbose, detailed writing style.
20Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
While many people loved the 1971 version ofWilly Wonka and the Chocolate FactorywithGene Wilder, the author hated the changes with a passion. In fact, he hated it so much that he refused to let any of his other books be made into a film again.
Though many people still enjoyed the movie, it makes sense why the author was mad. The book was meant to be a dark tale that warned naughty children of the horrible things that could happen to them. Willy Wonka wasn’t a nice, slightly eccentric man, but completely demented, and Oompa Loompas were slaves. But the movie was made to be a little more light-hearted and musical, getting rid of some of the darker aspects.
19I Am Legend
Many people probably don’t realize that there was a book source for the monster movie featuring Will Smith. That’s because the bookI Am Legendwas written in 1954 and isn’t a well-known classic like some of the others.
There were a few adaptations of the book, but the 2007 version is the most popular. However, it also made some pretty dramatic adaptations from the book. The first is that the main character is not a hero in the book. He is a killer and has to pay for his crimes against thevampiresthat live in the world. In the movie, Will Smith is a hero that works to save others and is willing to sacrifice himself to do so.
If that wasn’t enough, the kinds of creatures, how the apocalypse occurs and changes, and the setting are all different as well. If the movie didn’t share the same name, most people probably wouldn’t even realize that the movie was based on the book.
18Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Breakfast at Tiffany’sbook was made to be a bit darker than the light romance that we see in the movie. This leads to a couple of different changes in the movie, especially the ending.
The ending of the movie is a lot more upbeat and happy, with the writer and Holly getting together at the end. However, in the book, Holly disappears never to be seen again by the writer. Throughout the movie, there is also less openness about what exactly Holly’s profession is while in the book, it’s a lot more direct.
The time period is also slightly different, with the book being set in the 40s and surrounded by the war, while the movie is in the 60s.
17The Golden Compass
The Golden Compassis the first book in a trilogy calledHis Dark Materialsby Philip Pullman and is meant to poke fun at Christianity and their belief in churches and a higher power they know nothing about. It does this while telling a creative story about children, creatures they are connected to, and how things don’t always turn out well. It wasn’t meant to be a lighthearted story by any means; many people end up dead, and the bad guys are truly bad.
Related:These Authors Hated the Movie Adaptations of Their Books
However, the filmmakers decided that their version ofThe Golden Compassneeded to be more child-friendly and tame. They eliminated a lot of the deaths, made the bad guys a lot milder, and completely eradicated certain characters and storylines. Not to mention that the ending was different from the book, and many of the scenes are somewhat accurate, but out of order, which changes the story a bit.
16The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The Lost World:Jurassic Parkis based onThe Lost Worldby Michael Crichton. It was the second book in his series about dinosaurs, and the second part of the film series.
While the first one had some differences, they weren’t as dramatic as the second part of the series. While the second book was a lot slower than the first, with a lot of dialogue, and explaining of theories with just a little action in parts. This wouldn’t do well for a movie, so it makes sense that the director decided to change some things up. However, he changed up a lot more than expected.
The deaths in the book are a lot more dramatic, but they are fewer and farther between. Most people describe the book as a slow burn, with the movie just being an action-packed videoabout dinosaurs. Additionally, there is a lot less explanation in the movie to draw away from the action. But some of the characters, like Sarah, are a lot blander in the movie, not adding much and seeming stupid and dumb, versus the strong woman she is in the book.
15World War Z
World War Zwas a unique movie with a fun take on zombies many hadn’t seen before. They were based onzombie ants, and were overall a lot more terrifying than the zombies we usually see on film creeping around at a slow speed. It is a movie full of action, drama, and threats at every turn.
However, the book isn’t like this. While it is still about a zombie apocalypse, the book focuses a lot more on the psychological and bureaucratic aspects of a zombie outbreak. It was meant to criticize the way governments work and all the red tape, such as focusing on costs, but we don’t see much of that in the movie at all. Most people agree that the only thing the movie and the book have in common is the title.
14Who Framed Rodger Rabbit
CalledWho Censored Roger Rabbitin book form,Who Framed Roger Rabbitis an interesting movie that talks about the world if cartoons and real life combined. Though it has cartoon characters, it is a very adult-oriented movie focused on sharp and often harsh realities.
While it has a mix of sexy characters and harsh realities, it doesn’t really match the book. This isn’t entirely the director’s fault. The book is weird. It doesn’t quite live up to what the author was trying to do, creating a balance between science fiction and real life. He also tried to add a little mystery and several threads and subplots going on all at once. The plot gets convoluted and often misses the mark.
While the director liked the idea of pushing the boundaries between animation and real life, the plot wasn’t super useful or movie-adaptable. So the director threw it out and went with his own stories.
13Animal Farm
Animal Farmis an animated movie supposed to tell the story of the book written by George Orwell. LikeLord of the Flies, it was meant to be a piece to describe the Russian Revolution in ways that anyone could understand, even without knowing any of the history.
The 1954 animated movieAnimal Farmdidn’t exactly have the same goal in mind. During the Cold War, the CIA actually funded the movie as anti-Soviet Union propaganda. This meant that a lot of the story had to change, most notably the ending. The ending of the movie was much more uplifting by overthrowing the pig, Napoleon. Meanwhile, the book was a little darker and more tragic, with the book revealing that the pigs were no longer distinguishable from the humans.
