The Book vs the Movie

by Fr. John Granato  |  07/07/2024  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

As someone who loves movies and who also loves books, I have come to appreciate the simple fact that the novel is nearly one hundred percent of the time better than the movie. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, I find Francis Ford Coppola ’s movie The Godfather to be far superior to Mario Puzo’s novel. Stephen Spielberg’s movie, Jaws is also superior to Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name. Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest also pales in comparison to Milos Forman’s movie version with Jack Nicholson.

As far as classic novels go (I wouldn’t call any of the above three classic), it is difficult to find a classic novel that is better as a movie. But I will attempt to make a comparison that states that a particular movie of a classic novel is actually better. I just finished re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King in their extended versions. I attempted to read Tolkein’s trilogy of novels back in 2010. I know that this is not a popular opinion for the lovers of the Lord of the Rings novels. True lovers of the novels have been and continue to be disappointed in the movie versions.

As with any novel becoming a movie, especially longer novels or a trilogy of novels, you will need as a director to make a lot of cuts from plots, subplots and characters. Peter Jackson, the director of the movies, did indeed make a lot of unpopular decisions when he transferred the novel to movie. Visually, I found the movies to be breathtaking. The plot and subplots were engaging to the viewer, and the story, although not perfectly faithful, still retained a good amount of fidelity to the novels. Of course, I will always encourage people to read the novels as well as watch the movies. Both forms are entertaining. The only question is do you watch the movie before you read the novel or do you read the novel before you watch the movie. I guess that would be personal preference. God bless.