I know that books can't make a perfect transition as written to the silver screen, but it always irks me that films made "based" on the classics seem to take pains to radically alter the story. The obvious example here is that in the original text, Beowulf doesn't sleep with Grendel's mother, he decapitates her with a sword from her treasure horde; a sword that "no other man could have wielded in battle."

The same problem arose in that horrible, horrible movie Troy a few years ago, in which Menalaeus is dispatched within nearly the first ten minutes of the film (no no no no no. what the fuck? The man triumphs [by the strength of others] takes Helen home and helps Telemachaeus a little in the Odyssey.).

Before I start to sound like a zealot, I thought that a lot of changes to the LOTR story worked very, very well on-screen (Tom Bombadil makes for an interesting character on paper, but a magic gnome singing bad poetry for twenty minutes would have made even the nerdiest elf cry out for death). It's just that writers seem to always think to themselves, "hmm, here's a universally renowned piece of writing that has been immensely popular on both a widespread and perhaps scholarly level for 60/1000/3000 years. I surely have the skill and intellect to improve on it! What the hell did that Homer loser know that I didn't get out of USC?"

Speaking of the Greeks, don't even get me started on 300, Herodotus, the Spartans, and Thermopylae.

I wouldn't mind if they weren't trying to pass if off as the original; creating history; or changing history. Old movie makers weren't as self absorbed with themselves apparently.

It leaves the uneducated not only undecated but potentially thinking they are educated. What an unmitigated disaster these types of movies have become.

You deserve a minus for two reasons.

1. Your post wasn't good enough to deserve a "check", and the freditor is only one opinion (a poor opinion mostly) compared to what should be given to a post.

2. While Thom Bombadil may have been tough to have in the movie (hes not a gnome, he's a forest spirit), Glorfindel should have definately been kept in the movie. You ignored Glorfindel, thus, you deserve a -80 bajillion.

Depends entirely on how well it's done. The Last King of Scotland and A Simple Plan were fantastic. And I hear No Country for Old Men is good.

But yeah I agree, I wish I hadn't watched the Lord of the Rings movies. They ruined the books for me. They reduced Gimli to comic relief! That's just plain offensive.

LOTR movies "ruined the books" for you?

Pretty weak books, huh?

I didn't have a problem with Troy. The story of the Trojan War comes from several sources, not just The Iliad, so it's not as if the film was a direct adaptation of one particular text, even if they claimed The Iliad as its chief inspiration.

There is no way to successfully render a book on screen without taking some liberties; they are two distinct art forms. Translating Cormac McCarthy to film seems like an assured failure; the power of McCarthy's books rests in his narrative style. No Country for Old Men might be his most accessible, film-worthy book, though.

I never believed Beowulf would be completely faithful to the poem, since much of it centers on the mead hall and the customs and cultural nuances of that time and place. There isn't as much action in the real poem as those who have never read it will understand after watching this film. My problem with the movie is that the changes that were made completely change the entire plotline. The story sounds like something completely different than the poem.

Let's not forget about the Transformers movie this summer. Bumblebee as a Camaro instead of a VW Beetle? Megatron as a fighter jet? What the hell? The original cartoon was a classic and didn't need to be reinvented. At least they didn't mess with Optimus Prime. That would have totally ruined it for me.

Megatron transformed into a giant gun.


And a fighter jet is out of bounds?

The original cartoon when not seen through the years of a seven year old is a badly drawn half hour toy commercial. with the perspective shot to hell.

Translate that across decades and into live action-- you better hell reinvent it if you don't want to be laughed out of the theater.