How irritating is it for a writer and the fans when their work is adapted to the screen and flops in such a ridiculous manner? Hollywood is known for great adaptations when things go right, but when they tend skew the source material they’re given and go with something original exciting, the opposite effect is all too real and extremely embarrassing. When a film adaptation of a book, a graphic novel, or simply an ideal goes horribly wrong it can be a good thing on rare occasions, but more often than not it will be something uniquely bad.
History is virtually laced with bad ideas that were wrought of good intentions in regards to film. Here are five movie adaptations that totally missed the point.
Nightmare on Elm Street
The horror, gore, and strange sense of dark humor in this and and all of its sequels is strange considering that the main point is far more political and inherently real than any of this. The children are the ones that pay for the mistakes of the children, and in doing so are the ones that take on the debts of their elders in various ways. Craven is a master of horror, but his point ultimately gets lost in this gore-fest, and only gets obliterated by the sequels.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
The inherent bestial nature of humanity is the one true thing that still links us to the beasts of the fields, sky, and water. Was that really so hard to get through to people? Apparently so, but was more likely the over-inflated egos of Brando and Kilmer, and the strange goings on within the production of this film that made it jump the rails so badly.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The story was so much more complex than the movie, which in truth was kind a of a two-hour letdown of epic proportions. After promising so much with the trailer the film kept trying to build up to a point only to fall short and then throw something completely nonsensical at the audience in order to appease them. Some of the source material was followed, but what was really used was so hard to recognize that fans were instantly put off by this sad rendition of a favored story.
V for Vendetta
Give props to Hugo Weaving at least on this one. His acting was spot on, but the movie didn’t follow the source material a whole lot. Instead of inciting the need for people to stand on their own and create a government actually run by the people, the film created a giant standoff between the government and the citizens that were tired of living in fear. It was within sight of the main point, but just didn’t seem to quite get there.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
If you’d read the real bios of some of these characters you’d be horrified that they’re considered heroic in any way. Alex Quatermaine is a self-professed coward with an opium addiction, Nemo doesn’t care about the world in general, and Hyde actually raped a man to death. Yeah, great heroes to represent the world. Maybe it’s best we don’t talk about Tom Sawyer and Mina at this point.
None of these films were so uniquely horrible that they didn’t bear watching at all. But considering that they didn’t use but a few scraps of the source material it’s hard to be impressed. Of course this is Hollywood, and ideas are always bound to change.
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